2017 Canadian Guideline for Opioids for Chronic Non Cancer Pain

The 2017 Canadian Guideline for Opioid Therapy and Chronic Non-Cancer Pain was developed in response to concerns that Canadians are the second highest users per capita of opioids in the world, while the rates of opioid prescribing and opioid-related hospital visits and deaths have been increasing rapidly.

The guideline’s recommendations for clinical practice have been developed by an international team of clinicians, researchers and patients, led by the Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre at McMaster University http://nationalpaincentre.mcmaster.ca/guidelines.html and funded by Health Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The guideline was published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) and can be viewed in pdf. format.

The guideline incorporates medical evidence published since the previous national opioid use guideline was made available in 2010. The guidelines are recommendations but are not regulatory requirements.

The guideline does not look at opioid use for acute pain, nor for patients with pain due to cancer or in palliative care, or those under treatment for opioid use disorder or opioid addiction.