Spanish Pain Society
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Specialist in Anaesthesiology, coordinator of the Opioids Working Group of the Spanish Pain Society and associate editor of the Journal of the Spanish Pain Society (RESED)
Full professor at the Miguel Hernández University, specialising in Pharmacology and pain, coordinator of the SED Bioethics working group and coordinator of the Neuropharmacology applied to pain research group of the ISABIAL Foundation
Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Granada and coordinator of the Working Group on Basic Sciences in Pain and Analgesia of the Spanish Pain Society
PhD in Psychology, physiotherapist and member of the Psychology and Pain working group of the Spanish Pain Society (SED)
Tramadol is a painkiller prescribed for chronic pain and is considered safer than other opioids. A systematic review with meta-analysis that included 19 clinical trials with more than 6,500 people showed that, although it relieved pain, the effect was small and below what would be considered clinically effective. In addition, the analysis indicated that the drug is likely to increase serious adverse events, particularly cardiac events. Although an increased risk of some types of cancer was also detected, the authors question this effect due to the short follow-up period. ‘Given the limited analgesic benefits and increased risk of harm, the use of tramadol for chronic pain should be reconsidered, with preference given to safer alternatives and additional high-quality trials to clarify its risk-benefit profile,’ the researchers note in the study, published in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine.
Chronic pain is a public health problem that affects almost one in six people in Spain, with very different origins and characteristics. Specialists in psychology and pain explain what it is, how it is treated, what consequences it has for those who suffer from it and how to learn to live with it.