Zeng C, et al. - Among 88,902 patients aged ≥ 50 years with osteoarthritis, researchers investigated the association of tramadol prescription with all-cause mortality. They noted that initial tramadol prescription was related to a significantly higher mortality rate over 1 year of follow-up vs commonly prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs—but not in comparison with codeine. Because these findings may be vulnerable to confounding by indication, further research is warranted to determine whether this link is causal.