Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Opioid use disorder treatment sits at the intersection of clinical medicine and public health, examining how physicians prescribe opioids for chronic pain, how dependence and addiction develop, and what interventions—including medications like buprenorphine and methadone—can reduce overdose deaths and support recovery. The United States has experienced a prolonged opioid epidemic driven in part by aggressive prescribing practices, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths over the past two decades and persistent disparities in who receives adequate care. Researchers are actively working to understand how prescribing guidelines translate into real-world clinical behavior, how to balance legitimate pain management against the risk of dependence, and how to expand access to evidence-based addiction treatment in underserved communities. Central open questions include identifying which patient populations face the greatest mortality risk, and how healthcare systems can better integrate substance use disorder treatment into routine medical care.

Works

68,496

Total citations

938,172

Keywords

Opioid PrescribingChronic Pain ManagementOpioid OverdoseAddiction TreatmentPrescription OpioidsMortality Risk