The chronic pain and opioid addiction epidemics interact with each other, potentially exacerbating each respective condition. Despite having modest efficacy, millions of chronic pain patients in the USA continue to use opioids as their primary source of pain management. The Centers for Disease Control recommends opioid tapering to diminish the risk of opioid dependence in chronic pain patients. However, tapering, even with physician oversight, can introduce additional harm. Thus, many pain clinicians remain ambivalent about undertaking opioid tapering. Here, we surveyed attitudes on the topic from the viewpoint of chronic pain patients who have been consuming opioids over long duration. We queried 127 chronic pain patients (pain duration = 13.5 +/- 9.6 years) on long-term opioids (10.3 +/- 8.2 years), primarily consuming hydrocodone or oxycodone. Sixty-six percent of participants were ″very″ or ″extremely″ interested in participating in an opioid tapering study. Patients emphasized the importance of controlling their pain during opioid tapering, and over 50% were also worried about craving symptoms. Both the desire for tapering and the worry of pain control were more pronounced in participants with a higher magnitude of ongoing back pain. The study demonstrates that most chronic pain patients using opioids are interested in decreasing opioid consumption. Yet, they worry about losing control of their chronic pain. These results imply patient-physician strategies that may aid the engagement of both parties in opioid tapering.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study was funded by: the National Institute of Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health Grant No. 1P50DA044121, and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-132458, and by the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under Award No. F31NS126012.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethics committee/IRB of Northwestern University gave ethical approval for this work.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.