"These drugs are highly effective for pain control, but also cause feelings of euphoria. For these reasons, patients may ask their physicians for additional opioid medication even after their acute issue is resolved," said study author Susan Calcaterra, MD, MPH and assistant professor of medicine at the CU School of Medicine.
The researchers, a collaboration of experts from across health care disciplines, looked at 6,689 hospital patients who were prescribed opioids when discharged. None of them had been prescribed an opioid in the year preceding their hospitalization. Of those, 1,688 filled a new opioid prescription within 72 hours of leaving the hospital.
"These patients were more likely to become chronic opioid users and had an increased number of opioid refills one year post-discharge, compared to patients without opioid receipt," said Calcaterra. "They were five times more likely to be chronic users after one year."