Assessment of the Canadian Guideline for Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

CIHR has released a new report: CIHR Assessment of the Canadian Guideline for Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain

This report came in response to former Health Minister Jane Philpott's request for a review of how the guidelines were developed, to ensure a conflict hadn’t affected the results.

Specifically, the report included the following conclusions :

"Following the three components of its assessment, CIHR finds that the process used to develop the 2017 Canadian Guideline for Opioids for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain was scientifically rigorous despite the flaw in promptly identifying the conflict of interest (COI) in a single voting member of the fifteen member panel."

"...it seems clear that the perceived COI of one individual on the voting Guideline Panel did not have any impact on the final recommendations. CIHR concludes that the 2017 Canadian Guideline does provide unbiased, evidence-based guidance to clinicians on opioid prescribing practice that is aligned with international comparators."