One evidence base; three stories : do opioids relieve chronic breathlessness?
Ekström, Magnus LU
; Bajwah, Sabrina
; Bland, J. Martin
; Currow, David C.
; Hussain, Jamilla
and Johnson, Miriam J.
(2018)
In Thorax
73(1).
p.88-90
- Abstract
The efficacy of low-dose systemic opioids for chronic breathlessness was questioned by the recent Cochrane review by Barnes et al We examined the reasons for this conflicting finding and re-evaluated the efficacy of systemic opioids. Compared with previous meta-analyses, Barnes et al reported a smaller effect and lower precision, but did not account for matched data of crossover trials (11/12 included trials) and added a risk-of-bias criterion (sample size). When re-analysed to account for crossover data, opioids decreased breathlessness (standardised mean differences -0.32; -0.18 to -0.47; I2=44.8%) representing a clinically meaningful reduction of 0.8 points (0-10 numerical rating scale), consistent across meta-analyses.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/9f281098-aeeb-4da7-aa21-f9d381395dd7
- author
- Ekström, Magnus
LU
; Bajwah, Sabrina
; Bland, J. Martin
; Currow, David C.
; Hussain, Jamilla
and Johnson, Miriam J.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- COPD Pharmacology, Palliative Care, Perception of Asthma/Breathlessness
- in
- Thorax
- volume
- 73
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 3 pages
- publisher
- BMJ Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85039059825
- pmid:28377491
- ISSN
- 1468-3296
- DOI
- 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-209868
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9f281098-aeeb-4da7-aa21-f9d381395dd7
- date added to LUP
- 2018-01-22 10:37:18
- date last changed
- 2025-11-26 06:19:39
@article{9f281098-aeeb-4da7-aa21-f9d381395dd7,
abstract = {{<p>The efficacy of low-dose systemic opioids for chronic breathlessness was questioned by the recent Cochrane review by Barnes et al We examined the reasons for this conflicting finding and re-evaluated the efficacy of systemic opioids. Compared with previous meta-analyses, Barnes et al reported a smaller effect and lower precision, but did not account for matched data of crossover trials (11/12 included trials) and added a risk-of-bias criterion (sample size). When re-analysed to account for crossover data, opioids decreased breathlessness (standardised mean differences -0.32; -0.18 to -0.47; I2=44.8%) representing a clinically meaningful reduction of 0.8 points (0-10 numerical rating scale), consistent across meta-analyses.</p>}},
author = {{Ekström, Magnus and Bajwah, Sabrina and Bland, J. Martin and Currow, David C. and Hussain, Jamilla and Johnson, Miriam J.}},
issn = {{1468-3296}},
keywords = {{COPD Pharmacology; Palliative Care; Perception of Asthma/Breathlessness}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{88--90}},
publisher = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
series = {{Thorax}},
title = {{One evidence base; three stories : do opioids relieve chronic breathlessness?}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-209868}},
doi = {{10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-209868}},
volume = {{73}},
year = {{2018}},
}