Preventing opioid use disorder and misuse in asymptomatic primary care patients: A call for relevant primary prevention intervention research

Abstract

To contribute to the national effort to combat the opioid crisis, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) commissioned a scoping review to describe the state of evidence for the primary prevention of opioid misuse or use disorder in persons not yet prescribed opioids or not yet misusing opioids. (Patnode et al., 2021) As found by the scoping review, sparse direct evidence focusing on primary care-relevant prevention interventions exists. The purpose of the current commentary is to describe the relevant research needed to effectively inform primary care providers and patients about how to reduce the risk for future opioid use disorder and opioid misuse and improve health outcomes in those not yet exposed to or misusing opioid medications.

Keywords: Opioid misuse; Opioid use disorder; Opioids; Prevention; United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).