Empirical Studies Addressing the Opioid Epidemic: An Urgent Call for Research

Opioid misuse has become one of the most pressing public health problems facing the country. In this article, we briefly review literature regarding the opioid epidemic in the United States and the negative consequences of opioid use disorder. We provide information regarding treatment and relapse using a variety of intervention approaches. We call for research on people with opioid use disorder that can contribute to a variety of areas: improving medication-assisted treatment, addressing chronic pain, examination of adjunctive behavioral interventions, overdose, high risk behaviors and infections, pregnancy, diverse populations, and other psychological factors. Collectively addressing these crucial areas of research will advance the field and help alleviate suffering and prevent death from opioid use disorder.

Keywords: Opioid epidemic; medication-assisted treatment; opioid use disorder; overdose; pregnancy.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests:The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Similar articles

Hruschak V, Cochran G, Wasan AD. Hruschak V, et al. J Opioid Manag. 2018 Sep/Oct;14(5):345-358. doi: 10.5055/jom.2018.0467. J Opioid Manag. 2018. PMID: 30387858

Barglow P. Barglow P. Am J Addict. 2018 Dec;27(8):605-607. doi: 10.1111/ajad.12823. Epub 2018 Oct 12. Am J Addict. 2018. PMID: 30311993

Takeda MY, Katzman JG, Dole E, Bennett MH, Alchbli A, Duhigg D, Yonas H. Takeda MY, et al. Subst Abus. 2016 Oct-Dec;37(4):591-596. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2016.1179704. Epub 2016 Apr 19. Subst Abus. 2016. PMID: 27093555

Kaye AD, Jones MR, Kaye AM, Ripoll JG, Galan V, Beakley BD, Calixto F, Bolden JL, Urman RD, Manchikanti L. Kaye AD, et al. Pain Physician. 2017 Feb;20(2S):S93-S109. Pain Physician. 2017. PMID: 28226333 Review.

Theisen-Toupal J, Ronan MV, Moore A, Rosenthal ES. Theisen-Toupal J, et al. J Hosp Med. 2017 May;12(5):369-374. doi: 10.12788/jhm.2731. J Hosp Med. 2017. PMID: 28459909 Review.

Cited by

Moyo P, Merlin JS, George M, Shireman TI, Marshall BDL. Moyo P, et al. J Pain. 2024 Mar;25(3):742-754. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2023.10.003. Epub 2023 Nov 22. J Pain. 2024. PMID: 37820847

Gamble MC, Williams BR, Singh N, Posa L, Freyberg Z, Logan RW, Puig S. Gamble MC, et al. Front Syst Neurosci. 2022 Dec 1;16:1059089. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2022.1059089. eCollection 2022. Front Syst Neurosci. 2022. PMID: 36532632 Free PMC article. Review.

Elarabi HF, Lee AJ, Adem A, Elrasheed A, Marsden J, Al Ghaferi H. Elarabi HF, et al. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2022 Oct;239(10):3213-3221. doi: 10.1007/s00213-022-06202-9. Epub 2022 Aug 12. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2022. PMID: 35953563 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.

Macfie J, Towers CV, Fortner KB, Stuart GL, Zvara BJ, Kurdziel-Adams G, Kors SB, Noose SK, Gorrondona AM, Cohen CT. Macfie J, et al. Addict Behav Rep. 2020 Nov 12;12:100315. doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2020.100315. eCollection 2020 Dec. Addict Behav Rep. 2020. PMID: 33364323 Free PMC article.

Blackwood CA, Leary M, Salisbury A, McCoy MT, Cadet JL. Blackwood CA, et al. Neuroscience. 2019 Sep 1;415:173-183. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.07.030. Epub 2019 Jul 24. Neuroscience. 2019. PMID: 31351142 Free PMC article.

References

    1. Gottlieb S, Woodcock J. Marshaling FDA benefit-risk expertise to address the current opioid abuse epidemic. JAMA. 2017;318:421–422. - PubMed
    1. Kolodny A, Frieden TR. Ten steps the federal government should take now to reverse the opioid addiction epidemic. JAMA. 2017;318:1537–1538. - PubMed
    1. Han B, Compton WM, Blanco C, Crane E, Lee J, Jones CM. Prescription opioid use, misuse, and use disorders in U.S. adults: 2015 national survey on drug use and health. Ann Intern Med. 2017;167:293–301. - PubMed
    1. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings (NSDUH Series H-48, HHS Publication No. (SMA)14-4863). Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 2014.
    1. Rudd RA, Seth P, David F, Scholl L. Increases in drug and opioid-involved overdose deaths—United States, 2010-2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016;65:1445–1452. - PubMed
    Show all 61 references

    LinkOut - more resources

    Full Text Sources