Loading
Life sciences · Review
Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy · October 24, 2026
No summary has been generated for this record yet. What follows is drawn from its source metadata only.
Review.
No findings were extractable from the material analysed.
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
The source did not state who this applies to in practice.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
This record has not been graded across any dimension yet. Treat the label above as provisional and read the source.
What is missing. This record has no bottom line, key findings, reported figures, evidence dimensions. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
BACKGROUND: Chronic pain affects a substantial proportion of cancer survivors, and opioid therapy is commonly used to manage persistent symptoms. However, as survivors transition from active treatment to disease-free survivorship, the long-term consequences of persistent opioid exposure remain poorly characterized. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the consequences of opioid exposure after curative-intent treatment in disease-free cancer survivors, focusing on outcomes including survival, recurrence, opioid-related harms, opioid use disorder (OUD), and health care resource use (HRU). METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted, and MEDLINE and Embase were searched (January 2009-October 2024) for studies evaluating opioid exposure in cancer survivors and its association with survival, recurrence, opioid-related harms, OUD, and HRU. RESULTS: Thirteen observational studies were included, with substantial variation in definitions of cancer survivorship and persistent opioid use. Findings regarding the association between survival and opioid exposure were mixed. Although some studies reported modest association with cancer recurrence among persistent opioid users, others reported no association at all. Opioid-related harm and health care use were the most frequently reported outcomes, which generally indicate higher risk among persistent opioid users. Only one study assessed association between persistent opioid exposure and OUD, which found no statistically significant association after adjustment for confounders. CONCLUSIONS: Only 13 studies were reviewed, underscoring the limited and heterogeneous evidence on opioid use in disease-free cancer survivors and reflecting a high-priority knowledge gap. Although opioid exposure was consistently associated with higher risks of adverse drug events and greater HRU, findings for survival were mixed, including for cancer recurrence and OUD.