Pain Management

Pendulum may have swung toward over-prescribing, researcher says

CMAJ study shows substantial increase in mortality

A pharmacist’s guide to current evidence in the treatment of lower back pain

According to a survey done for the Canadian Pain Society and a coalition of pain support groups, direct health-care costs for treating pain amounts to more than $6 billion a year.

Pain medications are involved in more than 20% of deaths in the years after patients undergo spinal fusion surgery for low-back pain, a study in the April 1 issue of Spine suggests.