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BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
Published in: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Opioids | Research article

The past, present and future of opioid withdrawal assessment: a scoping review of scales and technologies

Authors: Joseph K. Nuamah, Farzan Sasangohar, Madhav Erraguntla, Ranjana K. Mehta

Published in: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

A common challenge with all opioid use disorder treatment paths is withdrawal management. When withdrawal symptoms are not effectively monitored and managed, they lead to relapse which often leads to deadly overdose. A prerequisite for effective opioid withdrawal management is early identification and assessment of withdrawal symptoms.

Objective

The objective of this research was to describe the type and content of opioid withdrawal monitoring methods, including surveys, scales and technology, to identify gaps in research and practice that could inform the design and development of novel withdrawal management technologies.

Methods

A scoping review of literature was conducted. PubMed, EMBASE and Google Scholar were searched using a combination of search terms.

Results

Withdrawal scales are the main method of assessing and quantifying opioid withdrawal intensity. The search yielded 18 different opioid withdrawal scales used within the last 80 years. While traditional opioid withdrawal scales for patient monitoring are commonly used, most scales rely heavily on patients’ self-report and frequent observations, and generally suffer from lack of consensus on the criteria used for evaluation, mode of administration, type of reporting (e.g., scales used), frequency of administration, and assessment window.

Conclusions

It is timely to investigate how opioid withdrawal scales can be complemented or replaced with reliable monitoring technologies. Use of noninvasive wearable sensors to continuously monitor physiologic changes associated with opioid withdrawal represents a potential to extend monitoring outside clinical setting.
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Metadata
Title
The past, present and future of opioid withdrawal assessment: a scoping review of scales and technologies
Authors
Joseph K. Nuamah
Farzan Sasangohar
Madhav Erraguntla
Ranjana K. Mehta
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Keywords
Opioids
Opioids
Published in
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6947
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-019-0834-8

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