Opioid Prescription Consumption Patterns After Total Joint Arthroplasty in Chronic Opioid Users Versus Opioid Naive Patients.

Abstract

Although chronic preoperative opioid use has been linked to inferior total joint arthroplasty outcomes, little research exists on postoperative prescribing patterns for opioid-naive orthopaedic patients versus chronic opioid users. The New York State Prescription Monitoring Program database, which tracks controlled prescriptions dispensed in-state over the preceding 12 months, was retrospectively queried for 386 patients who underwent primary, elective total hip or knee arthroplasty at a high-volume, urban medical center from May through December 2017. Seventy-four patients were excluded because they did not return prescription monitoring program results, leaving 312 patients. Prescribers, medications, dates prescribed and filled, and quantity dispensed were recorded 3 months preoperatively through 12 months postoperatively. We defined chronic users as ≥2 opioid prescriptions filled in 3 preoperative months and opioid-naive as <2 filled. Opioid use was compared univariately using 2-tailed Student <i>t</i>-tests. Chronic opioid users (n = 49; 15.7%) filled an average of 13,006.64 morphine equivalent doses per patient in the 12-month postoperative period, while opioid-naive users (n = 263; 84.3%) filled an average of 854.48 morphine equivalent doses per patient (<i>P</i> < 0.01). Opioid use in the chronic-user group was significantly higher in each 6-week postoperative interval (<i>P</i> < 0.01). These trends remained significant when stratified by procedure. For opioid-naive patients, 74% of opioid prescriptions were prescribed by our orthopaedic department. For chronic users, only 21% of opioid prescriptions originated from our department. Chronic users were found to cyclically fill opioid prescriptions every 3 to 4 weeks postoperatively as far out as 12 months and were significantly more likely to fill nonopioid controlled substance prescriptions both preoperatively and postoperatively (<i>P</i> < 0.01). Chronic opioid users undergoing arthroplasty filled significantly more opioid prescriptions than opioid-naive patients. Chronic users obtained prescriptions from myriad sources, only a minority of which originated from our orthopaedic department. In the current opioid epidemic, vigilance regarding opioid prescribing is critical.