Approximately 3% of opioid-naïve patients develop prolonged opioid use following major elective surgery, highlighting the need to identify high-risk subgroups to prevent long-term dependence.
Approximately 3% of previously opioid naïve patients continued to use opioids for more than 90 days after major elective surgery. Specific patient and surgical characteristics were associated with the development of prolonged postoperative use of opioids. Our findings can help better inform understanding about the long term risks of opioid treatment for acute postoperative pain and define patient subgroups that warrant interventions to prevent progression to prolonged postoperative opioid use.
Clarke et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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