Breast cancer patients who take opioid painkillers are more likely to discontinue an important hormone treatment that helps ensure their survival, researchers report. "It's not a big secret that the U.S. uses more opioids than any other country in the world," said researcher Rajesh Balkrishnan of the UVA School of Medicine's Department of Public Health Sciences. "Clearly there has to be better management of opioids in the elderly cancer population."