One in 10 Patients Experience Adverse Effects from Post-Surgical Opioids
Among patients who received opioids for the first time after undergoing surgery, 9.1% experienced a potential adverse effect from the drug, according to a study published online in the Journal of Patient Safety.
“Opioid analgesics are a mainstay for acute pain management,” researchers wrote, “but postoperative opioid administration has risks.”
Among 13,389 patients who until their surgery had never taken opioids, 91% received postoperative opioids and made up the retrospective study cohort. Among these 12,218 patients, 1111 experienced a potential opioid-related adverse drug event. Every day a patient received intravenous opioids, the odds of an adverse drug event rose 18%, researchers reported.
Adverse drug events were associated with 2.9 times the odds of death, 55% longer postoperative length of stay, 29% higher costs of hospitalization, and 29% lower odds of discharge home, the study found.
Predictors of opioid-related adverse drug events were older age, several markers of disease severity, longer surgeries, and concurrent benzodiazepine use.
“Knowledge of risk factors and predictors of opioid-related adverse drug events can help develop targeted interventions to minimize the development of these potentially dangerous and costly events,” researchers wrote.
—Jolynn Tumolo
Reference
Urman RD, Seger DL, Fiskio JM, et al. The burden of opioid-related adverse drug events on hospitalized previously opioid-free surgical patients. Journal of Patient Safety. 2019 January 21;[Epub ahead of print].
