Buprenorphine for Pain: A Narrative Review and Practical Applications

Chronic noncancer pain affects about 20% of US adults and can significantly affect function and quality of life. Current guidelines recommend multimodal pain control. Despite risks associated with long-term opioid therapy, opioids are commonly prescribed. Buprenorphine is a partial opioid agonist with an improved safety profile compared to full agonists. Some formulations are approved for chronic pain and others for opioid use disorder. Buprenorphine is an option for patients who use chronic daily opioids for pain. This review summarizes the literature on buprenorphine's efficacy and safety for chronic pain and provides recommendations to generalists on initiation, titration, and monitoring of buprenorphine-based pain treatment. We also discuss a communication approach when considering buprenorphine for pain.