Huang Z, et al. - Researchers investigated the clinical consumption of opioid analgesics in mainland China and its seven regions. Further, they determined the requirements of pain treatment and appraised the adequacy of opioid analgesic consumption. They retrospectively analyzed the national and regional consumption of opioid analgesics in mainland China during 2006–2016. Using the adequacy of consumption measure, the overall adequacy of opioid analgesic consumption was estimated in morphine equivalents for the treatment of moderate-to-severe pain in mainland China and this was compared with international data. During 2006–2016, the adequacy of consumption measure ranged from 0.0041 to 0.0088 in mainland China, which was less than 1% of that in the reference countries. This indicates far less clinical consumption of opioid analgesics for the treatment of moderate-to-severe pain in mainland China relative to the international level. In less developed areas, they reported lower annual per capita of clinical consumption and poorer adequacy of cancer pain treatment. All these findings emphasize strengthening pain management.