Patterns of Opioid and Benzodiazepine Use in Opioid-Naive Patients with Newly Diagnosed Low Back and Lower Extremity Pain.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The morbidity and mortality associated with opioid and benzodiazepine co-prescription is a pressing national concern. Little is known about patterns of opioid and benzodiazepine use in patients with acute low back pain or lower extremity pain.

Objective

To characterize patterns of opioid and benzodiazepine prescribing among opioid-naïve, newly diagnosed low back pain (LBP) or lower extremity pain (LEP) patients and to investigate the relationship between benzodiazepine prescribing and long-term opioid use.

Design/setting

We performed a retrospective analysis of a commercial database containing claims for more than 75 million enrollees in the USA.

Participants

Participants were adult patients newly diagnosed with LBP or LEP between 2008 and 2015 who d

SUBMITTER: Azad TD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6957597 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature