Pain management and the use of opioids in adults with kidney failure receiving conservative kidney management.

ABSTRACT

Conservative kidney management (CKM) is an active treatment for kidney failure (KF) for people who will either not benefit from kidney replacement therapy (KRT), do not wish to pursue KRT, or do not have access to KRT. CKM aims to improve patients' quality-of-life through meticulous attention to symptom management. KF is associated with a high symptom burden globally that is experienced across age, sex, and race with chronic pain being one of the most severe and common symptoms. The delivery of CKM therefore requires the integration of effective pain management strategies. This review will provide a detailed insight into CKM globally and will offer an approach to pain management for people with KF who are receiving CKM. Specifically, this review will provide an overview of the clinical characteristics of people receiving CKM across both high and low resource settings and the epidemiology of pain in this population. While it will provide some high-level considerations for the non-pharmacologic management of pain, it will focus predominantly on pharmacologic approaches. This will include considerations of non-opioid analgesics and strategies for the use of opioids in people receiving CKM. Furthermore, we will explore global disparities in kidney care, CKM, and pain management resources, including access to opioids and will discuss some of the additional challenges faced in low resource settings.