Research published in The Journal of Arthroplasty examined the rate of opioid consumption for total hip and knee arthroplasty patients.
Researchers studied preoperative opioid use using a nationwide insurance database of 69,368 total hip and knee arthroplasty patients. Chronic opioid use was defined as having more than two prescriptions before surgery, while opioid-naive patients had no prescriptions filled and sporadic users had one filled. Researchers defined opioid-use duration as the time between surgery and the last opioid prescription record. Magnitude of opioid use was defined as the number of pills filled 30 days after the operation.
Here are the key details to know:
1. Opioid naive patients were less likely than chronic users to use an opioid prescription following surgery, and they obtained fewer pills.
2. About 10 percent of total hip arthroplasty patients and 13 percent of total knee arthroplasty patients who were opioid-naive continued opioid use one year after surgery. Approximately 47 percent of total hip arthroplasty patients and 62 percent of total knee arthroplasty patients who were chronic opioid users continued using opioids one year after surgery.
3. Researchers concluded, "Chronic users obtain more opioids postoperatively and continue filling prescriptions for longer than naive patients. This work benchmarks norms regarding opioid use, and furthermore, these data highlight the powerful effect of opioid exposure during surgery as 10 [percent] to 13 percent of naive patients continued opioids at one year post-operation."