Hayes CJ, et al. - Researchers investigated if and how dose escalation among patients with chronic, non-cancer pain (CNCP) on chronic opioid therapy is potentially harmful. In this retrospective cohort study performed at United States Veterans Healthcare Administration, they included veterans with CNCP and on chronic opioid therapy using data from fiscal years 2008–15. Comparison of dose escalators [increase of > 20% average morphine milligram equivalent (MME) daily dose] vs dose maintainers (change of ±20% average MME daily dose) was performed. They identified 32,420 maintainers and 20,767 escalators resulting in 19,358 (93.2%) matched pairs. The analysis revealed increased risks of substance use disorder and opioid-related adverse outcomes—accidents resulting in wounds/injuries, opioid-related and alcohol and non-opioid medication-related accidents and overdoses, self-inflicted injuries—in correlation with escalating the opioid dose for those with chronic, non-cancer pain.