P057: A systematic review of the efficacy of opioid analgesics for the management of acute pain in older adults in the emergency department

Abstract

Introduction: Emergency department (ED) providers are frequently challenged with how best to treat acute pain in older patients, specifically when non-opioid analgesics are insufficient or contraindicated. Studies have documented older patients presenting to the ED with painful conditions are less likely to receive pain medications than younger patients, and this inadequate pain control has been associated with increased risk of delirium and longer hospital stays. As there are no guidelines informing best practice of analgesia in the older adult population, emergency physicians often report uncertainty regarding the ideal choice of opioid analgesic. The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of opioid analgesics for acute pain in older adults (70 years) in the ED. Methods: Electronic searches of Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and CINAHL were conducted and reference lists were hand-searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the efficacy of 2 or more opioid analgesics for acute pain in older patients (70 years) in ambulatory settings (i.e., EDs, clinics) were included. Two reviewers independently screened abstracts, assessed quality of the studies, and extracted data. Results: After screening titles and abstracts of 1297 citations, the full-texts of 63 studies were reviewed, and 1 study met the inclusion criteria. This study allocated patients to receive either single dose of 0.0075-mg/kg IV hydromorphone versus 0.05-mg IV morphine and found no clinical or statistical difference between the two treatments in older adults presenting to an urban academic ED with acute, severe pain. Conclusion: The lack of published research in this area demonstrates a significant gap in the existing knowledge of the comparative efficacy of opioid analgesics in this growing patient population and that well-designed RCTs are urgently needed.