CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain — United States, 2022

This guideline updates the CDC’s 2016 opioid prescribing guidance and provides evidence-based recommendations for clinicians treating pain in adults aged 18 and older. It covers acute, subacute, and chronic pain, excluding pain related to cancer, sickle cell disease, and palliative or end‑of‑life care. The guideline focuses on four areas: when to initiate opioids, how to select and dose them, how long to prescribe and how to follow up, and how to assess and mitigate opioid-related risks. Developed using the GRADE framework and extensive expert and public input, the recommendations emphasize individualized, flexible decision‑making to balance benefits and harms, improve patient‑clinician communication, enhance pain control and function, and reduce risks such as opioid use disorder, overdose, and death.