Prevalence of opioid adverse events in chronic non-malignant pain: systematic review of randomised trials of oral opioids

Table 3 Adverse events with oral opioid and placebo in randomised trials in chronic non-malignant pain

	Oral opioid				Placebo
	Number of patients		Event rate (%)		Number of patients		Event rate (%)
Adverse event	With AE	Total	Average	95% CI	With AE	Total	Average	95% CI
Patients experiencing any adverse event	1387	2743	51	49–53	122	404	30	26–34
Withdrawals
Adverse event withdrawal	933	4221	22	21–23	51	721	7.1	5.2–8.9
Lack of efficacy withdrawal	177	2719	6.5	5.6–7.4	135	679	20	17–23
Specific adverse events
Dry mouth	100	399	25	21–29	3	94	3.2	0–6.7
Nausea	902	4314	21	20–22	40	718	5.6	3.9–7.2
Constipation	606	4043	15	14–16	32	643	5.0	3.3–6.7
Dizziness	530	3899	14	13–15	28	623	4.5	2.9–6.1
Drowsiness or somnolence	425	3078	14	13–15	21	531	4.0	2.3–5.6
Pruritus	106	794	13	11–16	7	336	2.1	0.6–3.6
Vomiting	345	3330	10	9.3–11	12	497	2.4	1.1–3.8

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