Analyses of opioid-induced adverse effects based on Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database：Distinctive tendencies of the adverse events induced by morphine, fentanyl and oxycodone

ABSTRACT

Potent opioid analgesics are applicable for the treatment of severe pain, especially in cancer patients. Management of opioid-induced adverse effects is important to continue treatment with opioids because these drugs are associated with a variety of kinds of adverse effect, such as deliria and respiratory depression. However, information regarding these adverse effects in Japanese patients is limited. Therefore, we searched and analyzed a database for drug-induced adverse effects in Japan, the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database（JADER）, to acquire information related to the adverse effects induced by potent opioids such as morphine, fentanyl, and oxycodone. Cases with adverse effects associated with medications for palliative care were extracted from JADER, and types and frequencies of the events for each analgesic were analyzed. As a result, a lot of common adverse effects were found among the three opioids. However, the orders of their frequency differed among the analgesics. In principal component analysis, the property of morphine was intermediate between those of fentanyl and oxycodone. These findings may contribute to safe and effective pain control for patients receiving medical treatment with potent opioid analgesics.