Risk indicators in tapentadol use: opportunities to improve outcomes with a personal pharmaceutical care approach in community pharmacies

Opioids have historically been the pharmacological choice in the treatment of moderate to severe pain of oncological and chronic origin but they have also become a growing and controversial tool in the treatment of non-oncological pain that requires a risk/ benefit evaluation. The present study focuses on the opioid tapentadol, the newest opioid considered highly effective in treating cancer and non-cancer pain. According to the WHO Collaborating Center for Drugs Statistics Methodology, the stated Tapendatol Defined Daily Dose (DDD) for oral administration is 400 mg but the prescribed doses range from 100 mg/day in patients without previous opioid treatments up to a maximum of 600 mg/ day. However, the DDD is a unit of measurement that does not have to reflect the prescribed daily dose (PDD) because therapeutic doses usually differ from DDDs by taking into account individual patient considerations and pharmacokinetic conditions. This retrospective observational study in a community pharmacy on