Physicians are prescribing more opioid painkillers than ever before to patients undergoing common surgeries, according to new research published in JAMA.
Here are six insights:
1. The research, conducted from the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, examined 155,297 adults undergoing four common outpatient surgeries from 2004 to 2012.
2. Specifically, the patients were undergoing carpal tunnel repair, laparoscopic gall bladder removal, some minimally invasive knee surgeries and hernia repair.
3. Among patients who had not received an opioid prescription in the six months before surgery, the study found that four out of every five patients filled a prescription for an opioid pain medication within the seven days after surgery.
4. The amount of opioid medication dispensed to patients after surgery also increased markedly between 2004 and 2012 for all procedures studied.
5. For example, among patients undergoing knee arthroscopy, the investigators estimated a greater than 18 percent increase in the average total amount of opioid dispensed.
6. These findings come on the heels of CDC's updated 2016 guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain patients.