By Bob Kronemyer
The time it takes for surgical patients to stop using postoperative opioids greatly varies, but higher preoperative levels of opioid use are linked to progressively longer times to cessation postoperatively, according to a retrospective study of 64,391 patients, all of whom were prescribed outpatient opioids within 90 days after surgery.
The study, which appeared in Pain Medicine (2016 Apr 15. [Epub ahead of print]), assessed inpatient surgeries performed at 120 hospitals within