[1] While the CDC guideline was intended to inform primary care physicians on new prescription initiation, in many cases it was misapplied beyond this narrow scope and used to inform opioid tapering practices among patients taking long-term prescription opioids for chronic pain.
[3] Some healthcare providers have expressed concern about negative consequences of rapid forced tapering including suicidality.
[7] In October 2019, U.S. Health and Human Services published the HHS Guide for Clinicians on the Appropriate Dosage Reduction or Discontinuation of Long-Term Opioid Analgesics.
Some studies show pain improves with tapering of long terms opioids, though these are generally data from studies conducted in inpatient settings or in intensive and interdisciplinary programs[9] that are largely inaccessible to the vast majority of patients taking opioids.
[13] Retrospective evidence suggests that rapid tapers are associated with increased emergency department visits and hospitalizations.