Prescription opioid use before and after heart transplant: Associations with posttransplant outcomes.

ABSTRACT: Impacts of the prescription opioid epidemic have not yet been examined in the context of heart transplantation. We examined a novel database in which national U.S. transplant registry records were linked to a large pharmaceutical claims warehouse (2007-2016) to characterize prescription opioid use before and after heart transplant, and associations (adjusted hazard ratio, _{95% LCL} aHR_{95% UCL} ) with death and graft loss. Among 13 958 eligible patients, 40% filled opioids in the year before transplant. Use was more common among recipients who were female, white, or unemployed, or who underwent transplant in more recent years. Of those with the highest level of pretransplant opioid use, 71% continued opioid use posttransplant. Pretransplant use had g

SUBMITTER: Lentine KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6883129 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature