Consequences of opioid exposure in disease-free cancer survivors: A systematic literature review.

Authors

Albert M Truong, Susan Hong, Erica R Brody, Duc Pham, Livingstone Aduse-Poku, Vasco M Pontinha

Published in

Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy. Volume 32. Issue 11. Pages 1355-1367.

Abstract

Chronic pain affects a substantial proportion of cancer survivors, and opioid therapy is commonly used to manage persistent symptoms. However, as survivors transition from active treatment to disease-free survivorship, the long-term consequences of persistent opioid exposure remain poorly characterized.
To characterize the consequences of opioid exposure after curative-intent treatment in disease-free cancer survivors, focusing on outcomes including survival, recurrence, opioid-related harms, opioid use disorder (OUD), and health care resource use (HRU).
A systematic literature review was conducted, and MEDLINE and Embase were searched (January 2009-October 2024) for studies evaluating opioid exposure in cancer survivors and its association with survival, recurrence, opioid-related harms, OUD, and HRU.
Thirteen observational studies were included, with substantial variation in definitions of cancer survivorship and persistent opioid use. Findings regarding the association between survival and opioid exposure were mixed. Although some studies reported modest association with cancer recurrence among persistent opioid users, others reported no association at all. Opioid-related harm and health care use were the most frequently reported outcomes, which generally indicate higher risk among persistent opioid users. Only one study assessed association between persistent opioid exposure and OUD, which found no statistically significant association after adjustment for confounders.
Only 13 studies were reviewed, underscoring the limited and heterogeneous evidence on opioid use in disease-free cancer survivors and reflecting a high-priority knowledge gap. Although opioid exposure was consistently associated with higher risks of adverse drug events and greater HRU, findings for survival were mixed, including for cancer recurrence and OUD.

PMID:
42925250
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Oct 2026.

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