ArticleDrug safety2018
All-Cause and Drug-Related Medical Events Associated with Overuse of Gabapentin and/or Opioid Medications: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis of a Commercially Insured US Population.
Article in Drug safety, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 84 citations in OpenAlex.
- CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain - United States, 2022.MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · 2022Guideline
- Pooled it
- Impact of schedule V controlled substance classification of gabapentin on adult gabapentin-involved overdose rates, West Virginia, 2016-2019: A controlled time series analysis.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Decreased Gabapentin Prescription Fills Among Medicaid Enrollees Following State-Level Schedule V Controlled Substance Classification in Kentucky and West Virginia.Substance use & addiction journal · 2026Article
- Trends in Co-Prescribing Opioids and Gabapentinoids Among Medicare Beneficiaries, 2017 to 2022.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Gender Differences in Health Risk Factors for Co-Use of Gabapentin and Opioids among Black Americans.Addiction research & theory · 2026Article
- Daily Doses of Gabapentinoids for Pain Management Among Opioid Users Aged Below and Above 65 years.Clinical medicine & research · 2026Article
- Mediation of chronic pain and disability on opioid use disorder risk by pain management practices among adult Medicaid patients, 2016-2019.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Patterns of Non-Medical Gabapentinoid Use in a General Population Sample: Findings From the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Article
- Comparative safety and health service utilization for gabapentin versus non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for cervical radiculopathy: A retrospective cohort study of academic centers.Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia · 2026Article
- A comprehensive analysis of jurisdiction-specific laws related to scheduling or required prescription drug monitoring of gabapentin in the United States, 2016-2024.The International journal on drug policy · 2026Article
- Adverse respiratory events during treatment with gabapentin and opioids among older adults with spine-related conditions: a propensity-matched cohort study in the US Medicare population.The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society · 2025Article
- Ten-year analgesic utilization patterns and economic implications in Portugal.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2025Article
- Pain Management Treatments and Opioid Use Disorder Risk in Medicaid Patients.American journal of preventive medicine · 2024Article
- Gabapentin and pregabalin exposures reported to United States poison centers, 2012-2022.Injury epidemiology · 2024Article
- Association of Gabapentinoids With Opioid-Related Overdose in the Inpatient Setting: A Single Center Retrospective Case-Control Study.Hospital pharmacy · 2024Article
- Cohort study of new off-label gabapentin prescribing in chronic opioid users.Regional anesthesia and pain medicine · 2024Article
- Trends in the prescription of opioids and gabapentinoids in patients with failed back surgery syndrome in Korea: a population-based study.The Korean journal of pain · 2024Article
- Central Nervous System-Active Prescriptions in Older Veterans: Trends in Prevalence, Prescribers, and High-risk Populations.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
- Gabapentinoid consumption in 65 countries and regions from 2008 to 2018: a longitudinal trend study.Nature communications · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionOveruse of gabapentin and/or opioids occurs in a small percentage of patients at > 3-fold labeled dosages. Gabapentin may potentiate opioid effects.
objectiveThe aim was to assess patient harm, defined as use of inpatient hospital (IPH) or emergency department (ED) services, associated with overuse of gabapentin with or without concomitant overuse of opioids. DATA SOURCE: Data were sourced from the Truven Health MarketScan ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: The eligibility criteria were two or more claims (billed encounters) and ≥120 days of treatment with gabapentin and/or opioids.
methodsCohort identification was based on daily-dosage thresholds of 50 morphine-milligram equivalents and 3600 mg of gabapentin in a 12-month follow-up: (1) no overuse; (2) mild overuse (two or more claims or two or fewer calendar quarters over threshold); and (3) sustained overuse (three or more over-threshold calendar quarters). IPH and ED use were measured for 6 months after the first overuse date (cohorts 2 and 3) or a randomly assigned date (cohort 1). Logistic regression analyses controlled for pre-treatment IPH/ED utilization, indication, addiction diagnosis, concomitant sedative/hypnotic use, and demographics.
resultsAll-cause and drug-related IPH/ED utilization increased monotonically with degree of overuse, particularly of more than one medication. Sustained overuse of gabapentin multiplied odds of all-cause IPH by 1.366 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.055-1.769], drug-related IPH by 1.440 (95% CI 1.010-2.053), and IPH/ED for altered mental status (e.g., euphoria, anxiety) by 1.864 (95% CI 1.324-2.624). Sustained overuse of both medications quadrupled odds of all-cause IPH, drug-related IPH, and IPH/ED for altered mental status or respiratory depression.
conclusionDespite modest effects of gabapentin overuse alone, overuse of gabapentin with opioids may increase risk of harm and health-service utilization, supporting calls to make gabapentin a controlled substance in the USA.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.