New persistent opioid use among older patients following surgery: A Medicare claims analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although new persistent opioid use and high-risk prescribing have been recognized as important postoperative complications among younger patients (18-64 years of age), little is known about the incidence for postoperative opioid use among older patients (>65 years of age).

Methods

We analyzed a 20% national sample of Medicare Part D claims among beneficiaries >65 years of age who underwent a major or minor surgical procedure between January 1, 2009, and June 30, 2015. We identified patients without an opioid prescription fill in the year before surgery and examined their perioperative and 6-month postoperative opioid prescription fills to examine the incidence of new persistent opioid use and high-risk prescribing.

Results

We identified 81,839 opioid naïve

SUBMITTER: Santosa KB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7216555 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature