Dataset Information

Prevalence of Preoperative Opioid Use and Characteristics Associated With Opioid Use Among Patients Presenting for Surgery.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Patterns of preoperative opioid use are not well characterized across different surgical services, and studies in this patient population have lacked important self-reported data of pain and affect.

Objectives

To assess the prevalence of preoperative opioid use and the characteristics of these patients in a broadly representative surgical cohort.

Design, setting, and participants

Cross-sectional, observational study of patients undergoing surgery at a tertiary care academic medical center. Data were collected as a part of large prospective institutional research registries from March 1, 2010, through April 30, 2016.

Exposures

Preoperative patient and procedural characteristics, including prospectively assessed self-reported pain and functional measures.

Main outcomes and measures

Patient-reported opioid use before surgery.

Results

Of the total 34 186 patients recruited (54.2% women; mean [SD] age, 53.1 [16.1] years), preoperative opioid use was reported in 7894 (23.1%). The most common opioids used were hydrocodone bitartrate (4685 [59.4%]), tramadol hydrochloride (1677 [21.2%]), and oxycodone hydrochloride (1442 [18.3%]). Age of 31 to 40 years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.26; 95% CI, 1.10-1.45), tobacco use (former use aOR, 1.32 [95% CI, 1.22-1.42]; current use aOR, 1.62 [95% CI, 1.48-1.78]), illicit drug use (aOR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.16-2.60), higher pain severity (aOR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.31-1.35), depression (aOR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.12-1.33), higher Fibromyalgia Survey scores (aOR, 1.06, 95% CI, 1.05-1.07), lower life satisfaction (aOR, 0.95, 95% CI, 0.93-0.96), and more medical comorbidities (American Society of Anesthesiology score aOR, 1.47 [95% CI, 1.37-1.58]; Charlson Comorbidity Index aOR, 1.29 [95% CI, 1.18-1.41]) were all independently associated with preoperative opioid use. Preoperative opioid use was most commonly reported by patients undergoing orthopedic (226 [65.1%]) and neurosurgical spinal (596 [55.1%]) procedures and least common among patients undergoing thoracic procedures (244 [15.7%]). After adjusting for patient characteristics, the patients undergoing lower extremity procedures were most likely to report preoperative opioid use (aOR, 3.61; 95% CI, 2.81-4.64), as well as those undergoing pelvic (excluding hip) (aOR, 3.09; 95% CI, 1.88-5.08), upper extremity (aOR, 3.07; 95% CI, 2.12-4.45), and spinal or spinal cord (aOR, 2.68; 95% CI, 2.15-3.32) procedures, with the group undergoing intrathoracic surgery as the reference group.

Conclusions and relevance

In this large study of preoperative opioid use that includes patient-reported outcome measures, more than 1 in 4 patients presenting for surgery reported opioid use. These data provide important insights into this complicated patient population that would appear to help guide future preoperative optimization and perioperative opioid-weaning interventions.

SUBMITTER: Hilliard PE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6233789 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:PurposeTo determine the rate and risk factors for new persistent opioid use after ophthalmic surgery in the United States.DesignRetrospective claims-based cohort analysis.ParticipantsOpioid-naive patients 13 years of age and older who underwent incisional ophthalmic surgery between January 1, 2012, and June 30, 2017, and were included in Optum's de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart database.MethodsNew persistent opioid use was defined as filling an opioid prescription in the 90-day and the 91- to 180-day periods after the surgical procedure. The outcome variable was an initial perioperative opioid prescription fill. Rates of new persistent opioid use were calculated, and multivariate logistic regression models were used to identify variables increasing the risk of new persistent use and refill of an opioid prescription after the initial perioperative prescription in first 30 days.Main outcome measuresNew persistent opioid use and refill.ResultsA total of 327 379 opioid-naive patients (mean age, 67 years [standard deviation, 16 years]; 178 067 women [54.4%]) who underwent ophthalmic surgery were examined. Among these patients, 14 841 (4.5%) had an initial perioperative opioid fill. The rate of new persistent opioid use was 3.4% (498 of 14 841 patients) compared with 0.6% (1833 of 312 538 patients) in patients who did not have an initial perioperative opioid fill. After adjusting for patient characteristics, initial perioperative opioid fill was associated independently with increased odds of new persistent use (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 6.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.57-6.91; P < 0.001). Among patients who had filled an initial perioperative prescription, a prescription size of 150 morphine milligram equivalents or more was associated with an increased odds of refill (adjusted OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.58-2.22; P < 0.001).ConclusionsExposure to opioids in the perioperative period is associated with new persistent use in patients who were previously opioid-naive. This suggests that exposure to opioids is an independent risk factor for persistent use in patients undergoing incisional ophthalmic surgery. Surgeons should be aware of those risks to identify at-risk patients given the current national opioid crisis and to minimize prescribing opioids when possible.

Project description:Many patients having discretionary orthopaedic surgery take opioids daily, either with a prescription or illicitly, however little is known regarding the prevalence and effect of high-risk opioid use (eg, abuse, dependence) in the perioperative orthopaedic setting.We sought (1) to determine the prevalence of opioid abuse and dependence in patients undergoing major elective orthopaedic surgery; (2) to characterize the relationship of opioid abuse and dependence with in-hospital postoperative mortality and adverse events, failure to rescue, prolonged length of stay, and nonroutine disposition; and (3) to identify factors associated with high-risk opioid use.We used coding data collected in discharge records from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2002-2011). We analyzed changes with time in the prevalence of opioid abuse and dependence on admission. Finally, we used multivariate regression modeling to measure the association of opioid abuse and dependence with in-hospital postoperative mortality, morbidity, and resource utilization, and to identify factors associated with high-risk opioid use.The prevalence of opioid abuse and dependence increased from 0.095% in 2002 to 0.24% in 2011, an increase of 152% (p < 0.001). Opioid abuse and dependence were associated with increased inpatient mortality (odds ratio [OR], 3.7; 95% CI, 2.7-5.1) and aggregate morbidity (OR, 2.3 l; 95% CI, 2.2-2.4), including induced mental disorder (OR, 5.9; 95% CI, 5.4-6.3), respiratory failure (OR, 3.1; 95% CI, 2.7-3.6), surgical site infection (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 2.0-3.0), mechanical ventilation (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 2.0-2.5), pneumonia (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.8-2.3), myocardial infarction (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.3-2.6), and postoperative ileus or other gastrointestinal events (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.3-1.6) (p < 0.001 for all listed entities). Abuse and dependence also were associated with increased risk for prolonged hospital length of stay (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 2.4-2.5), nonroutine discharge (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 2.2-2.3), and failure to rescue (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.4-2.8). High-risk opioid users were more likely to be younger, male, nonwhite, Medicaid-insured patients with mental health and substance use disorders, and to be undergoing spine surgery. Hospital-related characteristics included urban setting, geographic location in the Northeast or West, and serving as a teaching facility.Opioid abuse and dependence are increasing rapidly among orthopaedic surgical inpatients and are associated with considerable postoperative morbidity and mortality and resource utilization. We recommend that orthopaedic surgeons screen patients carefully for opioid misuse preoperatively, help patients who are using opioids inappropriately to discontinue them before scheduling elective surgery, decline to perform elective surgery in patients who misuse opioids, and closely monitor patients who are habituated to opioids at the time they undergo surgery.Level III, prognostic study.

Project description:OBJECTIVE:We characterized patterns of preoperative opioid use in patients undergoing elective surgery to identify the relationship between preoperative use and subsequent opioid fill after surgery. BACKGROUND:Preoperative opioid use is common, and varies by dose, recency, duration, and continuity of fills. To date, there is little evidence to guide postoperative prescribing need based on prior opioid use. METHODS:We analyzed claims data from Clinformatics DataMart Database for patients aged 18 to 64 years undergoing major and minor surgery between 2008 and 2015. Preoperative use was defined as any opioid prescription filled in the year before surgery. We used cluster analysis to group patients by the dose, recency, duration, and continuity of use. Our primary outcome was second postoperative fill within 30 postoperative days. Our primary explanatory variable was opioid use group. We used logistic regression to examine likelihood of second fill by opioid use group. RESULTS:Out of 267,252 patients, 102,748 (38%) filled an opioid prescription in the 12 months before surgery. Cluster analysis yielded 6 groups of preoperative opioid use, ranging from minimal (27.6%) to intermittent (7.7%) to chronic use (2.7%). Preoperative opioid use was the most influential predictor of second fill, with larger effect sizes than other factors even for patients with minimal or intermittent opioid use. Increasing preoperative use was associated with risk-adjusted likelihood of requiring a second opioid fill compared with naive patients [minimal use: odds ratio (OR) 1.49, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.45-1.53; recent intermittent use: OR 6.51, 95% CI 6.16-6.88; high chronic use: OR 60.79, 95% CI 27.81-132.92, all P values <0.001). CONCLUSION:Preoperative opioid use is common among patients who undergo elective surgery. Although the majority of patients infrequently fill opioids before surgery, even minimal use increases the probability of needing additional postoperative prescriptions in the 30 days after surgery when compared with opioid-naive patients. Going forward, identifying preoperative opioid use can inform surgeon prescribing and care coordination for pain management after surgery.