Objective:

To determine the prevalence of the use of opioid-type drugs and to describe the characteristics of their prescription in hospitalised patients in a cancer centre during the year 2013.

Materials and methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to determine the prevalence and characteristics of opioid drug use. The study included 1231 patients with con firmed diagnosis of cancer, a solid haematological tumour, of both genders, and of any age, who received at least one dose of any type of opiate.

Results:

The prevalence of opioid consumption was 61.4%, with it being more frequent in women (56.6%) than in men (43.3%). The median dose given in early stages was 15 mg oral morphine / day with a range of 5 to 600 mg. In the late stages oral morphine 20 mg / day (range of 1.25 to 1050 mg) was used. The most common indication for opioid prescription was acute pain in 51.1%, with acute pain being understood as pain produced by an acute fracture, headache, or post-operative). This was followed by chronic pain, with 43.7%, and to a lesser extent for dyspnoea of tumour origin (3.5%). The main opioid used for acute pain was tramadol (82.9%), followed by morphine (16.4%).

Conclusion:

The results suggest a greater association with the consumption of opioids in the late stages of oncological disease, although more studies are needed to establish this finding. On the other hand, some prescription problems are detected in patients with renal disease and low prescription in the paediatric population. This is mainly noted in children less than 7 years-old, where it is obvious that the evaluation and diagnosis of pain is more difficult.

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