• K Wahle, D Krings, and K Schwenke.
• Arzt für Innere und Allgemeinmedizin, Münster. kontakt@praxiswb.de
• MMW Fortschr Med. 2013 Mar 21;155 Suppl 1:25-31.

BackgroundChronic pain in the elderly is common. Especially in the elderly inadequate treatment of pain can cause significant functional impairmentand deterioration of qualityof life.MethodsTheaim of this post-marketing surveillance study was to collect data from clinical practice on the analgesic efficacy and safety of the 7-day transdermal buprenorphine patch in patients with chronic non-malignant pain pre-treated with opioids. A total of 2713 elderly multimorbid patients were switched to 7-day transdermal buprenorphine patch from previous opioid treatment mainly due to inadequate analgesia. 83% of patients received a 7-day transdermal buprenorphine patch dosage > or = 10 microg/h. During the 8-weekobservation period, data on pain intensity, quality of sleep/life (NRS-11 point scales) and safety wererecorded.ResultsMean pain intensity decreased by 4 points with 7-day transdermal buprenorphine patch (p < or = 0.001). Quality of sleep and life as well as social activities and self-reliance improved significantly. Compliance and tolerability were assessed as very good/good in > 90% of patients. Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) occurred in 3% of patients and corresponded to 90.1% to the already-known spectrum of ADRs of 7-daytransdermal buprenorphinepatch.ConclusionsThe results confirm that elderly patients with opioid pre-treatment benefit from a switch to 7-day transdermal buprenorphine patch with regard to reduction of pain and improved quality of life.

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