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FPIN's Clinical Inquiries
From the Family Practice Inquiries Network

Sublingual Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder Treatment

Brendan Jackson-Fowl, DO
Agnes Kim, MD
Vivian Cheng, PharmD

American Family Physician. 2026;113(1):85-86.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

This clinical content conforms to AAFP criteria for CME.

BRENDAN JACKSON-FOWL, DO; AGNES KIM, MD; and VIVIAN CHENG, PharmD, Valley Family Medicine, Renton, Washington

Address correspondence to Vivian Cheng, PharmD, at vivian_cheng@valleymed.org.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

  1. 1.Kennedy AJ, Wessel CB, Levine R, et al. Factors associated with long-term retention in buprenorphine-based addiction treatment programs: a systematic review. J Gen Intern Med. 2022;37(2):332-340.
  2. 2.Stringfellow EJ, Dong H, Khatami SN, et al. The association between buprenorphine doses above 16 milligrams and treatment retention in a multi-payer national sample in the United States, 2014 to 2021. Addiction. 2025;120(6):1198-1206.
  3. 3.Chambers LC, Hallowell BD, Zullo AR, et al. Buprenorphine dose and time to discontinuation among patients with opioid use disorder in the era of fentanyl. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(9):e2334540.
  4. 4.Lei F, Lofwall MR, McAninch J, et al. Higher first 30-day dose of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder treatment is associated with decreased mortality. J Addict Med. 2024;18(3):319-326.
  5. 5.Axeen S, Pacula RL, Merlin JS, et al. Association of daily doses of buprenorphine with urgent health care utilization. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(9):e2435478.
  6. 6.Weimer MB, Herring AA, Kawasaki SS, et al. ASAM clinical considerations: buprenorphine treatment of opioid use disorder for individuals using high-potency synthetic opioids. J Addict Med. 2023;17(6):632-639.

Clinical Inquiries provides answers to questions submitted by practicing family physicians to the Family Physicians Inquiries Network (FPIN). Members of the network select questions based on their relevance to family medicine. Answers are drawn from an approved set of evidence-based resources and undergo peer review. The strength of recommendations and the level of evidence for individual studies are rated using criteria developed by the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group (https://www.cebm.net).

The complete database of evidence-based questions and answers is copyrighted by FPIN. If interested in submitting questions or writing answers for this series, go to https://www.fpin.org or email questions@fpin.org.

Copyright © Family Physicians Inquiries Network. Used with permission.

This series is coordinated by John E. Delzell Jr., MD, MSPH, associate medical editor.

A collection of FPIN’s Clinical Inquiries published in AFP is available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/fpin.

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