People with opioid use disorder have equivalent palliative care needs but markedly worse access, scoping review finds

A scoping review of 21 studies, covering approximately 681,000 participants across the United States, Australia, the Netherlands and Canada, found that people with opioid use disorder have palliative care needs equivalent to the general population, but markedly worse access — driven by fragmented care, unmet pain management, stigma, and prescribing-practice barriers Synthesis (Dookie et al.1, PMID: 42658237).

The review synthesises existing international literature rather than presenting new primary data on any single health system, so it does not establish exactly how large this access gap is within any particular national system. Its implication sits at the level of pathway design: advance care planning and referral pathways may need explicit adaptation for people with a history of opioid use disorder, rather than assuming standard palliative care access routes serve this population equally.