General practitioners and management of chronic noncancer pain: a cross-sectional survey of influences on opioid deprescribing

Figures & data

Figure 1 Survey flowchart.

Abbreviation: GP, general practitioner.

Table 1 GPs’ agreement with managing patients experiencing CNCP (n=681)

Attitudes towards CNCP	Strongly disagree/disagree			Neither agree nor disagree			Agree/strongly agree
	n	%	95% CI	n	%	95% CI	n	%	95% CI
Opioid therapy should be reserved for people experiencing acute pain, cancer pain, or palliative care	219	33	29–36	84	13	10–15	368	55	51–59
Focusing on medication to reduce pain has limited benefits for peoples’ quality of life and function over the long term	144	21	18–25	91	14	11–16	438	65	61–69
When caring for people who experience CNCP, screening for depression or anxiety is always important	21	3.1	2–4.7	7	1	2–4.7	647	96	94–97
Addressing sleep problems help people cope better with their pain experience	16	2.4	1.5–3.8	14	2.1	1.2–3.5	645	96	94–97

Notes: Totals may not add to 681 (or 100%) due to missing data.

Abbreviations: CNCP, chronic noncancer pain; GPs, general practitioners.

Table 2 Reported likelihood to deprescribe opioid dose to cessation in relation to various patient and resource factors (n=681)

Influences on GP decision about opioid weaning	Less likely to initiate wean			No influence on decision			More likely to initiate wean
	n	%	95% CI	n	%	95% CI	n	%	95% CI
Patient prefers to remain on opioids	250	37	34–41	276	41	38–45	144	21	19–25
Patient expresses fear of weaning (the process or the outcome)	173	25	23–29	388	57	54–62	107	16	13–19
Patient has low score on quality of life measure or functional outcome measure	242	36	33–40	221	32	29–37	208	31	28–35
Patient has poor psychological health	227	33	30–38	201	30	26–34	242	36	33–40
Lack of availability of effective alternate treatment	526	77	75–81	129	19	16–22	19	2.8	1.8–4.4
Lack of availability of access to or support from specialist care	351	52	49–56	294	43	40–48	26	3.8	2.7–5.6

Notes: Totals may not add to 681 (or 100%) due to missing data.

Figure 2 Oxycodone (strong) versus codeine (weak).