CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain — United States, 2022

In this clinical practice guidance, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides recommendations for clinicians on prescribing opioid pain medication to patients age 18 years and older. It excludes pain management related to sickle cell disease, cancer-related pain treatment, palliative care, and end-of-life care. 

This clinical practice guidance updates and expands CDC’s 2016 guidance. It covers 4 areas:

• Determining whether or not to initiate opioids for pain
• Selecting opioids and determining opioid dosages
• Deciding duration of initial opioid prescription and conducting follow-up
• Assessing risk and addressing potential harms of opioid use

In addition, CDC identified 5 guiding principles to inform implementation across recommendations, focusing on:

• Appropriate treatment of pain 
• Flexibility to meet the care needs and clinical circumstances of each patient
• A multimodal and multidisciplinary approach to pain management
• Avoiding misapplication of the clinical practice guideline beyond its intended use
• Vigilance in attending to health inequities and ensuring access to appropriate, affordable, diversified, coordinated, and effective nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic pain treatment for all people