Talk about a dose of disappointment. <\/p>\n
A new analysis<\/a> suggests that millions of Americans with chronic pain are being prescribed an opioid that likely does little to ease their suffering.<\/p>\n To make matters worse, the research indicates the drug significantly increases the risk of serious side effects \u2014 including heart disease, the nation\u2019s leading killer.<\/p>\n Chronic pain is associated with increased healthcare costs and lost productivity. My Ocean studio \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Across the US, 51.6 million adults<\/a> \u2014 roughly 1 in 5 \u2014 live with chronic pain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For 17.1 million of them, the agony disrupts work, daily activities or both.<\/p>\n Tramadol has been widely used to relieve that pain, with doctors writing 16 million prescriptions for the short-acting opioid in 2023 alone.<\/p>\n Long considered a \u201csafer alternative<\/a>\u201d to stronger opioids, tramadol isn\u2019t as heavily regulated as other drugs in its class and has a reputation for causing fewer side effects and carrying a lower risk of addiction.<\/p>\n Conflicting findings from the limited research that has been published prompted a group of Danish scientists to ask: Is tramadol really effective and safe for treating chronic pain?<\/p>\n Tramadol is among the most commonly prescribed opioids in the US. mbruxelle \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n To find out, they reviewed 19 clinical trials involving 6,506 people taking tramadol to manage chronic pain stemming from ailments such as fibromyalgia<\/a>, osteoarthritis<\/a> and nerve damage or dysfunction.<\/p>\n The average age of participants was 58. Tablets were the main form of medication, with treatment lasting between two and 16 weeks.<\/p>\n The pooled analysis showed that while tramadol eased some pain, the effect was small and fell below the threshold considered clinically effective. <\/p>\n Eight of the trials also found that tramadol users faced a higher rate of serious side effects. Statistical analysis showed they had twice the odds of suffering harms linked to the drug compared to those on a placebo during follow-up periods of seven to 16 weeks.<\/p>\n This increased risk was largely driven by a higher number of \u201ccardiac events,\u201d including chest pain, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tramadol also appeared to raise the risk of milder side effects such as nausea, dizziness, constipation and sleepiness.<\/p>\n The analysis suggests tramadol may not effectively reduce common pain \u2014 but it can increase the risk of side effects. Andy Dean \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n The drug may be linked to a higher risk of certain cancers, though researchers called this finding \u201cquestionable\u201d due to the short follow-up period.<\/p>\n The research team acknowledged a high risk of bias in the study outcomes but suggested that the positive effects of tramadol were likely overstated, while the negative effects were probably downplayed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe potential harms associated with tramadol use for pain management likely outweigh its limited benefits,\u201d they concluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n These findings \u2014 published Tuesday in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine<\/a> \u2014 come as the US continues to struggle with an opioid crisis, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since it began in the late \u201990s.<\/p>\n Studies show<\/a> that up to 12% of people treated with opioids for chronic pain end up addicted to the drugs or misuse them, increasing their risk for adverse outcomes like overdose<\/a>.<\/p>\n