Morphine does not help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who have severe shortness of breath.

Sometimes, to relieve symptoms, morphine is given to people who are very short of breath, for example people with CO2. But a new study from Lund University, among others, suggests that morphine does not help COPD patients become less short of breath.

The study included 156 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who suffered from severe and chronic shortness of breath. Some received a lower dose of morphine, others a higher dose, and some received a placebo. The study was double-blind, which means that neither the participants nor the staff knew who received what.

No improvements were seen

The researchers compared the groups to see how they rated their experience of shortness of breath.

Using motion sensors, the extent to which the participants moved during the study was also measured. It is known that exercise can improve physical ability and thus reduce breathing problems, but for seriously ill people with chronic shortness of breath, movement can be difficult.

Some might have expected that the study would show that morphine treatment would make participants less breathless and more physically active. Unfortunately, we do not see such tendencies at all in any of the groups. We saw no improvement in terms of the worst shortness of breath and those who received morphine tended to move less and have more fatigue, says Magnus Ekström, a researcher at Lund University and a doctor at Blekingesjukhuset in Karlskrona.

Sadly, there is no better treatment, but based on the results we’ve seen, we can’t generally recommend morphine for people with chronic breathlessness.

It can help in other situations

However, the study should not be interpreted as saying that morphine does not help patients with severe shortness of breath at rest and in palliative care at the end of life, says Magnus Ekström.

– We did not examine this in the study, our patients in most cases did not have shortness of breath at rest. Clinical experience shows that at the end of life and in crisis situations, morphine treatment can provide important help.

Academic subject:

Effect of regular, low-dose, extended-release morphine on chronic dyspnea in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. BEAMS randomized clinical trialAnd the yes.

Contact:

Magnus Ekström, researcher at Lund University and chief physician in pulmonary medicine at the Blekinge Hospital in Karlskrona
[email protected]