When people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias stop taking long-term opioid therapy (LTOT), they have a lower chance for short- and long-term worsening pain and depressive symptoms compared to those who stay on the medications, a new study published Thursday in Alzheimer’s & Dementia finds.
The researchers wanted to learn more about what happens when people stop LTOT, and how doing so can impact a person’s pain level, physical function and depressive symptoms.
Researchers evaluated data from 138,059 older residents over the age of 65 with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s and related dementias. All of the people studied were living in nursing homes in New Hampshire. The team conducted quarterly assessments of the data they had over either a one- or two-year span.
Discontinuing LTOT was considered not refilling the medication for 60 days or more.
People who stopped LTOT were 29% less likely to have worsening pain and 5% less likely to have depressive symptoms after one year, and 35% less likely to have worse pain and 9% less likely to have depressive symptoms after two years, the data shows. The researchers also looked at whether or not there were changes in physical function, but nothing significant emerged when they reviewed the data.
People who stopped taking LTOT can experience opioid withdrawal symptoms sooner after, which can worsen their physical and depressive function. The researchers did note that markers rose for those when looking at the two quarters (just after people stopped their medicine). But those symptoms are limited in terms of how long they last, which explains why worsening pain and depressive function decreased over time (in the subsequent quarters), the researchers said.
Those who discontinued LTOT were less likely to experience worsening pain and depressive symptoms and had no difference in physical function at one- and two-year follow-ups compared to those who kept taking the medicines, the authors wrote.
