New Findings from National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital Describe Advances in Opioids (Chronic Opioid Use for Noncancer Pain and Risk of Cardiovascular Events: a National Health Insurance Database Analysis): Opioids

2026 JUN 02 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Information Technology Business Daily -- Researchers detail new data in Opioids. According to news originating from Goyang, South Korea, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Although opioids primarily act on the central nervous system, they also affect the cardiovascular (CV) system. This study aimed to examine the association between long-term opioid use and the risk of CV events in individuals with noncancer pain.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, “We conducted a nationwide observational cohort study using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, linked to the national health check-up database, between 2009 and 2018. Patients prescribed opioids for >= 90 days were defined as chronic users. After 1:10 propensity score matching, Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and ischaemic stroke (IS), reported as hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), compared to nonopioid users. The final analysis included 36 300 opioid users and 334 590 matched controls. Chronic opioid use was significantly associated with increased risk of MI (HR 1.20, 95% CI: 1.12-1.30; P = 0.001) and IS (HR 1.16, 95% CI: 1.12-1.21; P< 0.001). Subgroup analyses indicated that the association between opioid use and CV events varied by factors such as prior major CV diseases, anticoagulant use, area of residence, and gabapentinoid use. Long-term opioid use in patients with noncancer pain is associated with an increased risk of CV events.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These findings underscore the need for careful CV risk assessment when initiating or maintaining chronic opioid treatment.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Chronic Opioid Use for Noncancer Pain and Risk of Cardiovascular Events: a National Health Insurance Database Analysis. Coronary Artery Disease, 2026;37(4):308-315. Coronary Artery Disease can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Coronary Artery Disease - http://journals.lww.com/coronary-artery/pages/default.aspx)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Youngmin Park, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Dept. of Family Medicine, Goyang, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include Jeonggeun Moon, In Cheol Hwang and Hyunsun Lim.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/mca.0000000000001601. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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