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Open research questions in Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

723 gap statements mined from Opioid Use Disorder Treatment papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 5,913 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

Choosing where to publish on Opioid Use Disorder Treatment? See the ranked Medicine journals.

What the literature leaves open

  • Censoring, where the event of interest may not have occurred for all subjects before the completion of the follow-up study. The need to handle heterogeneous distribution of longitudinal data.

    Use of Patterns of Service Utilization and Hierarchical Survival Analysis in Planning and Providing Care for Overdose Patients and Predicting the Time-to-Second Overdose · 2024 · DOI

  • Fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths in youth, but little is known about current youth knowledge and perspectives regarding fentanyl.

    Youth Awareness and Perspectives on Fentanyl · 2026 · DOI

  • Direct translation of these findings to human pathophysiology warrants further investigation.

    From Clinical Manifestations to Neural Mechanisms: A Systematic Review of Neurobehavioral Consequences of Pregabalin Misuse and Abuse · 2026 · DOI

  • Beyond NAS, findings were inconsistent: some studies reported increased risks of peripartum haemorrhage, stillbirth, small for gestational age, low Apgar scores, preterm birth, and placental abruption, whereas others found no increased risk.

    Opioid Analgesic Initiation During Pregnancy and the Risk of Adverse Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes: A Target Trial Emulation · 2026 · DOI

  • It remains unclear whether observed associations are causal or reflect residual confounding.

    Opioid Analgesic Initiation During Pregnancy and the Risk of Adverse Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes: A Target Trial Emulation · 2026 · DOI

  • Evidence-based methods to deter the misuse of stimulant medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are lacking.

    Training Physicians to Prevent Diversion of Stimulant Medication for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial in Pediatric Primary Care · 2026 · DOI

  • Treatment-related stabilization and partial recovery are incorporated into the model, but disease-modifying effects of opioid agonist treatment remain to be demonstrated prospectively.

    Stress-Driven Brain Remodeling in Opioid Use Disorder: Toward a Neuroprogressive Model · 2026 · DOI

  • These concepts have not yet been explored in the context of ESKD and chronic pain, limiting understanding of buprenorphine acceptability in patients with ESKD.

    A qualitative study examining barriers to buprenorphine for pain management in patients with end stage kidney disease undergoing hemodialysis · 2026 · DOI

  • These findings suggest that tramadol may be a comparatively favorable option when opioid therapy is necessary, although its longer‐term comparative safety remains uncertain.

    Comparative risks of mortality and fractures in patients with osteoarthritis initiating tramadol versus other opioids · 2026 · DOI

  • However, knowledge related to this non-medical use is scarce, especially from community dwellers of a developing nation.

    Addressing the unanswered questions: a qualitative exploration focusing on community dwellers using pregabalin without prescription in Islamabad city, Pakistan · 2026 · DOI

  • The interrelationship between unemployment and substance use disorders, especially opioid use disorders, is complex, and basic epidemiological data are lacking both in Germany and elsewhere.

    Unemployment & opioid use disorder – socio-medical assessment results by the Medical Service of the German Federal Employment Agency · 2026 · DOI

  • Differences in prescribing by race and ethnicity were larger in magnitude and warrant further investigation.

    Opioid prescribing and hospital outcomes after trauma in patients with substance use disorder: An analysis of the michigan trauma quality improvement project · 2026 · DOI

  • Less is known about AEs due to opioid administration in the ED, whose detection is limited by the high frequency of administration and poorly specific surveillance methods.

    Identifying Adverse Events Associated With High‐Risk Opioid Administration Using the Emergency Department Trigger Tool · 2026 · DOI

  • Little is known about how contextual factors influence preferences for ED OUD treatment coordination and how these preferences vary by race and ethnicity.

    Exploring Preferences in Emergency Department Coordination of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment by Race and Ethnicity · 2026 · DOI

  • To stratify long-term overdose fatality trends among US (United States) adolescents and young adults (AYA) aged 10-24 years by mechanism of overdose fatality, substance, age, and racial/ethnic group, including understudied groups (10-14-year-olds; Asian/Pacific Islanders), and provide an interactive data visualization application.

    Trends in U.S. Adolescent and Young Adult Overdose Fatalities, 1999-2023 · 2025 · DOI

  • Opioid prescription following parotidectomy was associated with an increased risk of persistent opioid use disorder and the number of postoperative office visits, emphasizing the need for further investigation of opioid-sparing analgesia protocols following parotidectomy.

    Postoperative Opioid Receipt After Parotidectomy and Associations With Persistent Opioid Use Disorder · 2025 · DOI

  • Opioids are used to treat pain in chronic pancreatitis (CP), but little is known about current use patterns.

    Prevalence and Patterns of Opioid Use in Chronic Pancreatitis · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should examine the underlying mechanism of the observed sex differences to target behavioral change more effectively for all participants of telehealth PRSS services in ED settings.

    Response to a peer telehealth intervention for emergency department patients presenting with opioid use disorder or unintentional overdose: a stratified interrupted time series analysis · 2025 · DOI

  • Stigma related to drug use is a well-documented barrier to engaging and remaining on medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), yet little is known about how stigma operates across multiple social and institutional settings in low-resource contexts.

    Navigating stigma: a qualitative study of barriers to opioid treatment engagement in Tanzania · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should examine the extent to which IYS reduce the incidence of NMPOU and improve opioid-related health and social outcomes among youth.

    The multidimensional social ecological needs and service utilization patterns of youth using non-medical prescription opioids: an observational study of routinely collected data in a provincial integrated youth services initiative · 2025 · DOI

  • Trauma patients are vulnerable to long-term prescription opioid use (LTPOU) because of high prevalence of postinjury pain, but risk factors of self-reported LTPOU remain understudied in this population.

    Prolonged opioid use in trauma patients: A multicenter cohort study · 2025 · DOI

  • There is limited knowledge regarding prescription opioid use following the release of the 2016 CDC guidelines, which recommended prioritizing non-opioid therapies for chronic pain, prescribing the lowest effective opioid dose for the shortest duration, and closely monitoring to minimize risks.

    Prescription Opioid Use in Older Adults: Trends and Changes in New and Long-Term Use in the United States, 2013–2020 · 2025 · DOI

  • Recent studies have raised concerns regarding usage of opioids, a class of drugs widely used for managing chronic pain in musculoskeletal disorders; however, its potential risks remain incompletely understood.

    Association of oral opioid usage and mortality in patients with inflammatory arthritides: a Korean nationwide cohort study · 2025 · DOI

  • Any unreported overdose that took place in the community was not included in the analysis - Incomplete/inconsistent collection of demographic data at source, as well as strict privacy limitations, resulted in a lack of information on race or ethnicity - The findings of this study are limited to the host organization and hence not immediately generalizable/transferable to other…

    Use of Patterns of Service Utilization and Hierarchical Survival Analysis in Planning and Providing Care for Overdose Patients and Predicting the Time-to-Second Overdose · 2024 · DOI

  • This study extends previous research regarding long-term US AYA overdose fatality trends by demonstrating trends through 2023 and including understudied subgroups, underscoring IMF-related overdose burden in US AYA and inequities between subgroups, and debuting a data visualization application.

    Trends in U.S. Adolescent and Young Adult Overdose Fatalities, 1999-2023 · 2025 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Most recent work

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths in youth, but little is known about current youth knowledge and perspectives regarding fentanyl (“Youth Awareness and Perspectives on Fentanyl”, 2026); (2) It remains unclear whether observed associations are causal or reflect residual confounding (“Opioid Analgesic Initiation During Pregnancy and the Risk of Adverse Maternal…”, 2026); (3) Evidence-based methods to deter the misuse of stimulant medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are lacking (“Training Physicians to Prevent Diversion of Stimulant Medication for…”, 2026); (4) Treatment-related stabilization and partial recovery are incorporated into the model, but disease-modifying effects of opioid agonist treatment remain to be demonstrated prospectively (“Stress-Driven Brain Remodeling in Opioid Use Disorder: Toward a…”, 2026); (5) These concepts have not yet been explored in the context of ESKD and chronic pain, limiting understanding of buprenorphine acceptability in patients with ESKD (“A qualitative study examining barriers to buprenorphine for pain management in…”, 2026). 723 gap statements have been mined from Opioid Use Disorder Treatment papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 5,913 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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