Long-Term Opioid Therapy for Pain: What Is Known About Harms-and Still Not Known About Benefits

Mark C Bicket; Brian T Bateman

doi:10.1001/jama.2025.13225

Long-Term Opioid Therapy for Pain: What Is Known About Harms-and Still Not Known About Benefits

JAMA. 2025 Sep 23;334(12):1057-1058. doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.13225.

Authors

Mark C Bicket¹, Brian T Bateman²

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Anesthesiology and Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
² Departments of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine and Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.

PMID: 40864437
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2025.13225

No abstract available

Plain language summary

This Viewpoint discusses recent US Food and Drug Administration data on opioid-related risks and harms; highlights ways in which understanding of these risks and harms remains incomplete; and calls for required postmarketing opioid studies and improved regulatory communications to ensure safer, more effective pain care.