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Abstract

Dyspnea is the most frequently reported symptom of outpatients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Opioids are an effective treatment for dyspnea. Nevertheless, the prescription of opioids to patients with advanced COPD seems limited. The aims of this study are to explore the attitudes of Dutch chest physicians toward prescription of opioids for refractory dyspnea to outpatients with advanced COPD and to investigate the barriers experienced by chest physicians toward opioid prescription in these patients. All chest physicians (n = 492) and residents in respiratory medicine (n = 158) in the Netherlands were invited by e-mail to complete an online survey. A total of 146 physicians (response rate 22.5%) completed the online survey. Fifty percent of the physicians reported to prescribe opioids for refractory dyspnea in 20% or less of their outpatients with advanced COPD and 18.5% reported never to prescribe opioids in these patients. The most frequently reported barriers toward prescription of opioids were resistance of the patient, fear of possible adverse effects, and fear of respiratory depression. To conclude, Dutch chest physicians and residents in respiratory medicine rarely prescribe opioids for refractory dyspnea to outpatients with advanced COPD. This reluctance is caused by perceived resistance of the patient and fear of adverse effects, including respiratory adverse effects.

Keywords

Opioids morphine breathlessness palliative care symptoms

Introduction

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic, incurable, and often progressive disease and is nowadays the third leading cause of death.¹ In the last decade, the needs for palliative care for patients with COPD have been recognized.² Cornerstone of palliative care is optimal symptom management.³ Symptom burden of patients with advanced COPD is at least comparable to symptom burden of patients with cancer.⁴ Dyspnea is the most frequently reported symptom of patients with advanced COPD.⁵ Dyspnea has significant impact on the patient as well as the family caregiver and is a major determinant of health status.^6,7

Previous studies have shown that opioids can relieve dyspnea.⁸ ^– ¹⁰ Therefore, international statements recommend the use of opioids to treat refractory dyspnea in patients with COPD.^2,11 Nevertheless, the prescription of opioids in patients with advanced COPD seems limited.⁵ In fact, only one-fourth of the patients with COPD received opioids in their last 6 months of life, while half of the patients with lung cancer received opioids.¹² Moreover, while 94% of the clinically stable outpatients with advanced COPD reported moderate to severe dyspnea, only 2% used opioids, such as morphine.⁵ Exploring the attitudes of chest physicians toward prescription of opioids to patients with advanced COPD is needed to understand why implementation of guidelines concerning the use of opioids for refractory dyspnea in daily practice is limited.

A recent qualitative study highlighted discrepancies between the positive experiences of patients with advanced COPD with opioids and the reluctance of physicians to prescribe opioids for refractory dyspnea.¹³ In a qualitative study by Young and colleagues,¹⁴ family physicians reported barriers, such as insufficient knowledge, lack of education, and lack of guidelines, toward prescription of opioids. To date, quantitative data concerning attitudes of chest physicians toward prescription of opioids to outpatients with advanced COPD and refractory dyspnea are lacking. Moreover, barriers toward prescription of opioids as experienced by chest physicians remain unexplored. Insight in attitudes as well as barriers toward opioid prescription are necessary to develop a plan for implementation of current palliative care guidelines.

Therefore, the aims of this cross-sectional observational study were to explore the attitudes of Dutch chest physicians and residents in respiratory medicine toward prescription of opioids for refractory dyspnea in outpatients with advanced COPD and investigate the barriers experienced by chest physicians and residents in respiratory medicine toward opioid prescription in these patients. A priori, we hypothesized that Dutch chest physicians and residents rarely prescribe opioids to outpatients with advanced COPD and refractory dyspnea.

Methods

All chest physicians (n = 492) and residents in respiratory medicine (n = 158) in the Netherlands were invited by e-mail to complete an online anonymous survey in August 2012. The questionnaire included items regarding generic characteristics of the respondents (sex, age, religious background, level of education, palliative care education, and work setting); questions about attitudes toward prescription of opioids to outpatients with severe to very severe COPD and refractory dyspnea (defined as severe dyspnea, despite optimal pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment, including pulmonary rehabilitation and long-term oxygen therapy as indicated); preferred opioids; and barriers toward opioid prescription. Nine possible barriers were included. These were selected based on previous qualitative studies^13,14 and expertise of the developers of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed by the Dutch ‘NVALT Taskforce Palliative care for patients with respiratory disease’, consisting of experts in the field of respiratory medicine and palliative care. (Please see online supplement for the questionnaire.) Medical ethical approval was not necessary, because this online survey does not fall under the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act.

Statistics

Statistics were performed using IBM SPSS statistics 21.0. Categorical variables are described as frequencies, while continuous variables were tested for normality and are presented as mean and standard deviation. We used frequencies to evaluate prescription of opioids and perceived barriers to prescription of opioids. Perceived barriers were compared between physicians who prescribed opioids to ≤20% of their outpatients with COPD and physicians prescribing to 21%–100% of their patients using χ² tests. A binary logistic regression model was developed to identify the determinants of opioid prescription attitude. Opioid prescription attitude (prescription to ≤20% of the patients vs. prescription to 21%–100% of the outpatients with advanced COPD and refractory dyspnea) was entered as dependent variable. Because there are no data available about possible determinants of attitudes toward opioid prescription, variables were only included in the model if they showed a possible relationship with opioid prescription attitude (p ≤ 0.20) in univariate analyses. Therefore, characteristics of physicians (age, sex, religious background, oncology as subspecialty, work setting (academic hospital vs. general hospital or center for pulmonary rehabilitation), level of education (chest physician vs. chest physician in training), and palliative care education) were compared between participants who prescribed opioids in ≤20% of their patients with advanced COPD and refractory dyspnea and participants who prescribed opioids to 21%–100% of their patients with advanced COPD and refractory dyspnea, using independent sample t-test or χ² tests, as appropriate. Religious background and level of education were not related to opioid prescription attitudes (p > 0.20) and were excluded from the logistic regression model. A priori, a two-sided level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.¹⁵

Results

Study participants

In total, 146 physicians (111 chest physicians and 35 residents in respiratory medicine) completed the online survey (response rate 22.5%; Table 1). Distribution of sex and proportion of residents among participants was representative for the total population of chest physicians and residents in respiratory medicine in the Netherlands (both, p = 0.80). However, participants more often worked in an academic hospital than the total population of chest physicians and residents in the Netherlands (22.6% vs. 15.3%, p = 0.04).

Table 1.

Characteristics of physicians.^a

Characteristics
Male	88 (60.3%)
Age (years)	43.6 (9.8)
Religious background
Christianity	81 (55.5%)
Other	16 (11.0%)
None	49 (33.5%)
Level of education
Chest physician	111 (76.0%)
Resident in respiratory medicine	35 (24.0%)
Palliative care education	86 (58.9%)
Main type of practice
University hospital	33 (22.6%)
General hospital	108 (74.0%)
Pulmonary rehabilitation centre	5 (3.4%)
Subspecialty
COPD	24 (16.4%)
Oncology	38 (26.1%)
Asthma	7 (4.8%)
Pulmonary rehabilitation	4 (2.7%)
Interstitial lung disease	6 (4.1%)
Respiratory infections	7 (4.8%)
None	60 (41.1%)

COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

^a n = 146. Data are represented as number (%) or mean (SD).

Attitudes toward prescription of opioids

Half of the respondents reported to prescribe opioids for refractory dyspnea in 20% or less of their outpatients with advanced COPD and 18.5% reported never to prescribe opioids for refractory dyspnea to these patients (Figure 1). Some differences were present between physicians who rarely or never prescribed opioids and physicians who more often prescribed opioids for dyspnea in COPD. Univariate analyses suggested a relationship between attitudes toward opioid prescription and age, work setting, and oncology as subspecialty. Logistic regression analyses confirmed these findings. Physicians who prescribed opioids to 0%–20% of their patients with advanced COPD were older, more often worked in an academic hospital and less frequently reported oncology as subspecialty (Table 2).

Figure 1.

Attitudes toward opioid prescription. Proportion of physicians prescribing opioids to 0%–20%, 21%–40%, 41%–60%, 61%–80%, and 81%–100% of their COPD outpatients with refractory dyspnea. COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Table 2.

Determinants of prescribing opioids to 20% or less of the patients with advanced COPD and refractory dyspnea.^a

	Prescribing to 0-20% (n = 73)	Prescribing to 21%–100% (n = 73)	Unadjusted p value	OR (95% CI)^b
Age (years)	45.3 (10.7)	41.9 (8.5)	0.03	1.06 (1.01–1.11)
Male	48 (65.8%)	40 (54.8%)	0.18	1.39 (0.63–3.10)
Physician in academic hospital	23 (69.7%)	10 (30.3%)	0.01	3.80 (1.50–9.60)
Oncology as subspecialty	12 (31.6%)	26 (68.4%)	0.008	0.35 (0.14–0.84)
Palliative care education	38 (52.1%)	48 (65.8%)	0.09	0.57 (0.26–1.26)

^aData presented as mean (SD) or number (%).

^bBased on binary logistic regression analysis, R ² = 0.22.

Barriers towards prescription of opioids

The mean number of perceived barriers was 1.9 (1.2). None or one barrier was reported by 39.7% of the respondents, while three or four barriers were reported by 24.0%. The most frequently reported barrier toward prescription of opioids for refractory dyspnea in patients with advanced COPD was resistance of the patient to receive opioids. Another important barrier was fear of possible adverse effects such as nausea, constipation, or drowsiness. The possibility of inducing respiratory depression was reported by 19.9% of the physicians as a barrier (Table 3). Five physicians reported barriers not included in the questionnaire, namely, risk of delirium (n = 3); preference for benzodiazepines for refractory dyspnea (n = 1), and polypharmacy (n = 1).

Table 3.

Physician perceived barriers to prescription of opioids.^a

	Total group (n = 146)	Prescribing to 0%–20% (n = 73)	Prescribing to 21%–100% (n = 73)	p Value
Possibility of respiratory depression	29 (19.9%)	15 (20.5%)	14 (19.2%)	1.00
Side effects such as nausea, constipation, or drowsiness	77 (52.7%)	33 (45.2%)	44 (60.3%)	0.10
Resistance patient	94 (64.4%)	38 (52.1%)	56 (76.7%)	0.003
Unpredictable which patients will respond to opioids	21 (14.4%)	16 (21.9%)	5 (6.8%)	0.02
Insufficient expertise to prescribe opioids	21 (14.4%)	18 (24.7%)	3 (4.1%)	0.001
Insufficient scientific evidence for beneficial effect on dyspnea among patients with advanced COPD	11 (7.5%)	9 (12.3%)	2 (2.7%)	0.06
Insufficient scientific knowledge concerning safety aspects	7 (4.8%)	7 (9.6%)	0 (0%)	0.02
Opioids are only indicated for terminal patients	2 (1.4%)	2 (2.7%)	0 (0%)	0.48
Possibility for development of physical or psychological dependence	10 (6.8%)	4 (5.5%)	6 (8.2%)	0.74

COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

^aData presented as number (%).

Differences were present between barriers perceived by physicians who rarely or never prescribed opioids compared to physicians who more frequently prescribed opioids to outpatients with COPD. Physicians who prescribed opioids to 0–20% of their outpatients with COPD less frequently reported the barrier “resistance of the patient” but more frequently reported “it is unpredictable which patients will respond to opioids,” “I have insufficient expertise to prescribe opioids,” and “there is insufficient scientific knowledge concerning safety aspects” (Table 3).

Preferred opioids

The most frequently prescribed long-acting opioids were orally administrated sustained release morphine and orally administrated sustained release oxycodone (Table 4). About one-third of the respondents always prescribed short-acting opioids for breakthrough dyspnea next to long-acting opioids. The most preferred short-acting opioid was oral morphine. Most respondents reported to prescribe laxatives next to opioids. Anti-emetics were prescribed by 5.5% of the physicians.

Table 4.

Preferred opioids.^a

	Number (%)
Preferred long-acting opioid
Morphine sustained release (oral)	48 (32.9%)
Oxycodone sustained release (oral)	38 (26.0%)
Fentanyl (transdermal)	28 (19.2%)
Other^b (oral)	5 (3.4%)
Never prescribe long-acting opioid	27 (18.5%)
Prescription of short-acting opioid for breakthrough dyspnea next to long-acting opioid
Always	54 (37.0%)
As indicated	49 (33.5%)
Never	43 (29.5%)
Preferred short-acting opioid
Morphine (oral)	73 (50.0%)
Oxycodone (oral)	33 (22.6%)
Fentanyl (transmucosal)	13 (8.9%)
Never prescribe short-acting opioid	27 (18.5%)
Prescription of laxatives and anti-emetics next to opioids
None	10 (6.8%)
Laxatives only	128 (87.7%)
Anti-emetics only	0 (0%)
Laxatives and anti-emetics	8 (5.5%)

^a n = 146.

^bCodeine, buprenorphine, or hydromorphone.

Discussion

Key findings

In this cross-sectional observational study, we showed that half of the Dutch chest physicians or residents in respiratory medicine rarely or never prescribed opioids to outpatients with advanced COPD and refractory dyspnea. The most frequently reported barriers to prescription of opioids in this group were resistance of the patient, the physician’s fear of adverse effects such as nausea, constipation, or sedation, and fear of respiratory depression.

Attitudes toward prescription of opioids

In this study, 50% of the physicians rarely or never prescribed opioids for refractory dyspnea to outpatients with advanced COPD. Moreover, 18.5% never prescribed opioids to these patients, despite the recommendations in national and international statements.^2,11,16 Our results confirm the findings of a previous Dutch study showing that opioids are rarely prescribed to outpatients with advanced COPD and severe dyspnea.⁵ Reluctance toward prescription of opioids for dyspnea in COPD is also reported in other countries. Gaspar et al.¹⁷ performed a survey about end-of-life care in COPD among 136 Portuguese chest physicians. They showed that 30% of the physicians never or rarely treated dyspnea in patients with COPD with opioids, while 38% reported to use opioids frequently or always to palliate dyspnea. The higher proportion of Portuguese physicians willing to prescribe opioids may be explained by the fact that we focused on prescription of opioids in outpatients with advanced COPD, while the study from Gasper et al.¹⁷ focused on end-of-life care. A study among 65 hospital physicians in the United Kingdom showed recently that while most of them were willing to prescribe opioids for refractory dyspnea, only one-third had prescribed opioids to a patient with COPD. Moreover, they felt more confident in prescribing opioids to patients in the last days of life or patients with cancer than to patients with COPD.¹⁸

Barriers toward prescription of opioids

Surprisingly, the most frequently reported barrier by physicians was resistance of the patient to receive opioids. Conversely, Rocker et al.¹³ reported positive experiences of patients with advanced COPD with opioids. In this qualitative study, patients reported that opioids provided them a sense of calm and relief from dyspnea and improved their quality of life. Moreover, family members reported that opioids were helpful for their loved ones and adverse effects were not a major concern. Another Canadian study also described COPD patients’ positive experiences with opioids and showed that minor improvements in dyspnea may considerably improve the quality of life.¹⁹ Further studies exploring the attitudes of patients with COPD toward the use of opioids is necessary to explain this discrepancy. Indeed, we don’t know whether resistance toward opioids is common in patients with COPD or that it is only a perception of the chest physicians.

Fear of adverse effects was another important barrier. Indeed, the most common adverse effect of opioids is constipation.⁹ Therefore, almost all physicians in the current study prescribed laxatives next to opioids. In the study by Abernethy et al.,⁹ adverse effects (including nausea, vomiting, or sedation) of morphine prescribed for dyspnea were minimal.

Fear of respiratory depression is reported by one-fifth of the physicians as a barrier toward opioid prescription. The current literature about the safety of opioids for the treatment of severe dyspnea in patients with COPD is limited. Small studies in cancer patients showed no relevant respiratory adverse effects.^20

–23 Abernethy et al.⁹ found similar respiratory rates for 18 patients receiving morphine and 20 patients receiving placebo. However, they did not assess carbon dioxide levels. A randomized study in 14 COPD patients showed that 2.5–7.5 mg of diamorphine had no significant effect on blood gases.²⁴ Poole and colleagues found no change in oxygen saturation of 14 COPD patients during a 6-week treatment with sustained release morphine.²⁵ On the other hand, the use of higher dosages of oral morphine during exercise testing caused higher carbon dioxide levels and lower oxygen levels in a study including 13 normocapnic patients with COPD.²⁶ Finally, a recent population-based prospective cohort study suggested that lower dose opioids (≤30 mg oral morphine equivalents a day) were not associated with increased mortality, while a higher dose opioids was associated with increased mortality. However, respiratory adverse effects were not investigated in this study.²⁷ Therefore, further studies need to explore whether morphine leads to respiratory adverse effects in patients with COPD.

The difficulty in predicting which patients are likely to respond to opioids is another reported barrier, especially among physicians who never or rarely prescribed opioids. Indeed, in about one-third of the patients, opioids don’t relieve dyspnea and to date it remains difficult to predict which patient is likely to respond.^10,28 A pooled analysis suggested that the likelihood of response is independent from the underlying disease. Patients with more severe dyspnea are more likely to respond to opioids.²⁹ Other predictors of response are currently unknown. So, especially for patients with severe dyspnea, prescription of opioids, including careful monitoring of the benefits and adverse effects, can be considered.

Frequently reported barriers among family physicians toward prescription of opioids in COPD are insufficient knowledge and lack of education.¹⁴ In the current study, insufficient expertise was reported more frequently by physicians who rarely prescribed opioids than by physicians who more frequently prescribed opioids. In contrast, palliative care education was not a significant predictor of opioid prescription behavior. This may be explained by the fact that we asked for education about palliative care in general and didn’t ask specifically for education about palliative treatment of dyspnea in COPD.

Preferred opioids

Oral morphine is the preferred opioid for Dutch chest physicians. This can be explained by the fact that morphine is used in important studies in this field^9,10 and therefore is emphasized in the Dutch guideline about palliative treatment of dyspnea.¹⁶ Fentanyl transdermal is the first-choice long-acting opioid for 19% of the physicians and fentanyl transmucosal the first-choice short-acting opioid for 9% of the physicians. This is surprising, because literature on the efficacy of fentanyl for treatment of dyspnea is scarce. While a few case studies suggest that fentanyl may be beneficial, two pilot randomized controlled trials were unable to show a difference between fentanyl and placebo.^30,31 Another trial including 12 patients with COPD suggested a positive effect of inhalation of fentanyl on exercise tolerance.³² An advantage of fentanyl may be the possibility for different administration routes. This can be especially important for treatment of breakthrough dyspnea. Only one-third of the respondents always prescribe short-acting opioids for breakthrough dyspnea next to long-acting opioids. Nevertheless, episodes of breakthrough dyspnea are hard to cope with for patients as well as their loved ones.⁷ Patients prefer intranasal or sublingual administration routes above oral administration routes in episodic dyspnea.³³ Therefore, adequately powered randomized controlled trials should explore the effect on dyspnea, including episodic dyspnea, of different opioids and different administration routes.

Methodological considerations

Several limitations should be considered in interpreting the results. First, the response rate was only 22.5%. We don’t know whether the attitudes toward opioids of participants in the survey are comparable with the attitudes of physicians who did not respond to our request. The proportion of the participants working in an academic setting was higher than in the total Dutch population of chest physicians and residents in respiratory medicine. Moreover, physicians working in an academic setting were less likely to prescribe opioids. Therefore, willingness to prescribe opioids could be higher among Dutch chest physicians and residents than in the current sample. Second, our survey assessed attitudes of physicians and does not provide objective data concerning actual opioid prescription behavior. However, attitudes are important to explore for the development of strategies for implementation of guidelines. Third, our regression model exploring determinants of attitudes only included a limited number of covariates. Therefore, other determinants of attitudes toward opioid prescription may be present which are not assessed in the current study. Finally, only 14% of the respondents reported insufficient expertise to prescribe opioids. We did not include an assessment of knowledge and skills concerning opioid prescription in COPD in our study. Therefore, the need for further education about opioids among chest physicians remains unexplored.

Conclusions and implications

Dutch chest physicians and residents in respiratory medicine rarely prescribe opioids for refractory dyspnea to outpatients with advanced COPD. This reluctance is caused by perceived resistance of the patient and fear of adverse effects, including respiratory adverse effects. In addition, predicting which patients are likely to respond to opioids remains difficult. To facilitate implementation of current guidelines about opioid prescription for dyspnea, these barriers need to be addressed. Therefore, future studies should explore the perceived resistance of patients, the occurrence of adverse (respiratory) effects of opioids in COPD, and how to select which patients are likely to respond to opioids. Guidelines about the use of opioids for dyspnea should include prevention and management of adverse effects. Finally, adequately powered randomized controlled trials are needed to explore the effect of different opioids and different administration routes on dyspnea, including episodic dyspnea.

Footnotes

Conflict of interest

DJAJ has received lecture fees from GlaxoSmithKline, Astra Zeneca, and Almirall. Other authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Supplemental material

The online supplements are available at .

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Supplementary Material

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Attitudes toward opioids for refractory dyspnea in COPD among Dutch chest physicians

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Methods

Statistics

Results

Study participants

Attitudes toward prescription of opioids

Barriers towards prescription of opioids

Preferred opioids

Discussion

Key findings

Attitudes toward prescription of opioids

Barriers toward prescription of opioids

Preferred opioids

Methodological considerations

Conclusions and implications

Footnotes

Conflict of interest

Funding

Supplemental material

References

Supplementary Material