A handful of common surgeries account for most opioid pain prescriptions Researchers say efforts to ensure safe surgical prescribing should focus on these Many people with opioid use disorder began using the drugs after surgery WEDNESDAY, July 3, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Opioid addiction often starts with a prescription for post-surgery pain relief, and two new studies identify a handful of procedures that account for large shares of those prescriptions. The findings were published recently in two major medical journals. "Our findings suggest that surgical opioid prescribing is highly concentrated among a small group of procedures," said of the University of Michigan Opioid Research Institute, lead author of a study published in .
"Efforts to ensure safe and appropriate surgical opioid prescribing should focus on these procedures." With addiction a growing problem in the United States, many surgeons encourage patients to rely on other pain-relievers such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen as soon as they are able. For the study, researchers looked at surgeries between Dec.
1, 2020, and Nov. 30, 2021. They determined which procedures accounted for the highest shares of opioids and the size of prescriptions for each procedure.
They said many patients were prescribed far more medication than they would typically need for a particular procedure. The top three procedures for children aged 11 and younger accounted for 59% of opioids dispensed after .
