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Research being presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2017 National Conference and Exhibition shows that post-surgical opioid pain medications prescribed after common surgeries may become a pathway to continued, nonmedical opioid use by teens and young adults.
The study abstract, "Persistent Opioid Usage among Pediatric Patients Following Surgery in the United States," will be presented on Sunday, Sept. 17, at the Marriott Marquis Chicago.
Researchers examined data including nearly 90,000 privately insured U.S. patients between ages 13 and 21 (averaging age 17) with no previous opioid prescriptions who underwent one of 13 common surgeries for this age group, compared with a control sample. They looked for persistent opioid use, defined as continued prescription refills 90 to 180 days after the surgical procedure and beyond what is expected after routine surgery.
They found the incidence of new persistent opioid use following surgery was 4.8 percent, ranging from 2.7 percent to 15.2 percent across procedures, as compared to 0.1 percent in the nonoperative control group.
Gallbladder removal and colon surgery were among procedures associated with highest risk of new persistent opioid use, said lead abstract author Calista Harbaugh, M.D., a general surgery resident at the University of Michigan Medical School and pediatric surgery researcher at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and the Michigan Opioid Engagement Network. In addition, they found older youth with additional chronic conditions, depression, anxiety or prior substance use disorders were at higher risk.