Lung cancer is the primary cause, with roughly 2.3 million diagnoses and 1.8 million deaths from cancer in 2020. Additionally, up to 12% of patients have reported experiencing new, persistent postoperative discomfort.

A study published online in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine demonstrated that new long-term opioid use to treat pain following lung cancer surgery is associated with a 40% increased chance of dying from any cause within the following two years.

In the final analysis, 54,509 adults who underwent lung cancer surgery in South Korea between 2011 and 2018 were included. Approximately 6% of patients continued to use freshly prescribed opioids six months following surgery. 4.5% used less potent opioids, while 1.6% used more potent ones.

The study revealed that the new long-term opioid users were 40% more likely than the general population to die within the next two years after beginning usage of these medicines. Those who used less potent opioids had a 22% higher mortality risk, whereas those who took more strong opioids had a 92% higher mortality risk.

This is the first study to use data from a national registration database to show a link between newly acquired long-term opiate use and worse long-term survival outcomes following lung cancer surgery. (News-medical.net, Sep 13 2022)