#OICAwarenessDay campaign looks to break silence, stigma of ‘underdiagnosed population’
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Salix Pharmaceuticals has joined forces with the U.S. Pain Foundation and the International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders to declare December 5 as Opioid-Induced Constipation Awareness Day, according to a company press release.
Despite affecting 40% to 80% of patients who receive long-term opioid therapy, opioid-induced constipation (OIC) is a rarely discussed side effect of opioid use, the U.S Pain Foundation noted.
Image: Salix Pharmaceuticals
“OIC Awareness Day will help bridge the gap between health care providers (HCPs), patients, and caregivers by providing them with the information needed to guide conversations about symptoms and management strategies,” Megan Filoramo, RN, MSN, APN-C, a nurse practitioner and member of the Master Faculty at the American Society of Pain Management Nurses, said in the release. “I’m excited to be a part of this awareness initiative and help shed light on this underdiagnosed patient population.”
With the #OICAwarenessDay movement, the groups aim to break down the silence and stigma associated with the condition. The initiative will provide a platform for patients, caregivers and health care providers to discuss OIC and help patients suffering from the condition receive the support and treatment they need. Further the groups have partnered with social media influencers to increase awareness of the campaign using the hashtag: #vOICesofOIC.
In recognition of the first OIC Awareness Day, Healio recaps the latest news and research on treatments for OIC, including electroacupuncture, peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonists and Relistor (methylnaltrexone, Salix Pharmaceuticals).
Electroacupuncture may improve opioid-induced constipation in patients with cancer
Electroacupuncture increased weekly spontaneous bowel movements and improved quality of life in patients with cancer and opioid-induced constipation, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.
“Opioid-induced constipation (OIC) affects 60% to 90% of patients with cancer-related opioid use,” Weiming Wang, MD, PhD, of the department of acupuncture and moxibustion at Guang’anmen Hospital in Beijing, and colleagues wrote. “Opioid-induced constipation can have a profound negative effect on the activities of daily living and overall quality of life of patients with moderate to severe cancer pain.” Read more.
Relistor produces rescue-free laxation in patients with opioid-induced constipation
A single dose of Relistor injection produced rescue-free laxation in severely ill patients with opioid-induced constipation who had an insufficient response to laxative therapy, according to a study published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.
“Methylnaltrexone (Relistor) works in the majority of opioid-induced constipation patients within four hours, and its use doesn’t change the analgesic effects of the opioid,” W. Frank Peacock, MD, FACEP, FACC, lead author and director of research at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told Healio. Read more.
PAMORAs help achieve response in opioid-induced constipation
Peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonists helped patients with opioid-induced constipation achieve therapeutic response, according to a meta-analysis published in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
Michael Camilleri, MD, from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues wrote that opioid-induced constipation can decrease treatment satisfaction and can lead patients to discontinue opioid therapy. Read more.
Methylnaltrexone effectively treats opioid-induced constipation in patients with cancer
Methylnaltrexone can effectively treat opioid-induced constipation in patients, including those with cancer, according to research to be presented at the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine’s annual meeting.
The research won the conference’s Best of Meeting Abstract Award.
“Subcutaneous methylnaltrexone is a well-known and established treatment for opioid-induced constipation,” Eric D. Shah, MD, MBA, director of the Gastrointestinal Motility, Esophageal, and Swallow Disorders Center at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, told Healio Primary Care, adding that many physicians now refer to this condition as opioid-associated or opioid-exacerbated constipation in recognition that there may be other factors that predispose these patients to constipation. Read more.
VIDEO: Relistor effective in achieving rescue-free laxation in opioid-induced constipation
In this video exclusive, Gregory S. Sayuk, MD, MPH, discussed a presentation from the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting on the use of Relistor for patients with opioid-induced constipation with advanced illness.
Sayuk, associate professor of medicine and psychiatry and associate director of the fellowship training program in the division of gastroenterology at Washington University School of Medicine and gastroenterologist at the John Cochran Veterans Affairs Medical Center, both in St. Louis, and colleagues performed a polled post hoc analysis of three randomized controlled trials comparing Relistor (methylnaltrexone, Salix Pharmaceuticals) with placebo in more than 500 patients with opioid-induced constipation. Patients were stratified by baseline opioid equivalent dose into three groups: patients taking less than 80 mg per day, 80 to 150 mg per day or more than 150 mg per day. Watch video.
VIDEO: Baseline laxative use does not affect Relistor outcomes in opioid-induced constipation
In this video exclusive, Qi T. Yu, DO, from Loma Linda University Health, discussed how laxatives at baseline impacted the outcomes of subcutaneous Relistor in patients with advanced illness and opioid-induced constipation.
Yu presented the research at the Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Meeting.
“In patients with advanced illness and opioid-induced constipation, the use of [Relistor (methylnaltrexone, Salix Pharmaceuticals)] was really helpful because it increased the proportion of patients [who] were able to have a spontaneous bowel movement within 4 hours and 24 hours when they are not able to have that spontaneous bowel movement with a baseline laxative use,” she said. Watch video.
References:
- A Q&A about opioid-induced constipation. https://uspainfoundation.org/blog/a-qa-about-opioid-induced-constipation/ Accessed Nov. 28, 2023.
- Salix in collaboration with the U.S. Pain Foundation and the International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders establish the inaugural Opioid-Induced Constipation (OIC) Awareness Day. https://www.accesswire.com/viewarticle.aspx?id=812898 Accessed Dec. 5, 2023.
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts