title: Use of opioid analgesics or sleeping medication and survival of cancer patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pain and sleep disturbance have been shown to have a profound influence on the outcomes of cancer treatment. This study sought to determine whether administering opioid analgesics or sleeping medication to cancer patients during their first admission to a hospital is associated with poor prognoses.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study by analyzing data obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The study population comprised cancer patients whose first admission to a hospital for initial cancer treatment was in 2004.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We collected data on 2302 cancer patients. To analyze the effect of opioid analgesic and sleeping medication usage on cancer patient survival, we compared the 3-year survival rates among 4 groups of patients (no use, sleeping medications-only, opioid analgesics-only, both used). The 3-year Kaplan-Meier plots for these 4 groups show that the difference was statistically significant (log rank 48.244, p < 0.001). The longevity of cancer patients was the greatest among the no-use group, followed by the sleeping medications-only group, then the opioid analgesics-only group, and finally, the group in which both sleeping medications and opioid analgesics were used.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of opioid analgesics or sleeping medication was shown to be negatively correlated with the survival rate of cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Pei
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: clin@tmu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Chia-Chin
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000068776:Sleep Aids, Pharmaceutical / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid; D000068776:Sleep Aids, Pharmaceutical
keywords: Cancer; Opioid analgesics; Sleeping medications; Survival analysis