ArticleArthritis care & research2022
Societal Cost of Opioid Use in Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis Patients in the United States.
Article in Arthritis care & research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effect of ultrasound-guided genicular nerve neurolysis versus sham procedure on pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized clinical trial.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2026Trial
- Beyond the Surgical Bill: Pharmacoeconomics and Real-World Utilization Across the Knee Osteoarthritis Care Pathway-A Critical Narrative Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The Scientific Case for Animal Models: A Perspective From Musculoskeletal Researchers.FASEB bioAdvances · 2026Article
- Platelet-Rich Plasma Attenuates Knee Osteoarthritis in Rats via Modulation of Gut Microbiota.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Article
- Traditional Korean Medicine Services and Its Association with Knee Surgery and Opioid Use in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Nationwide Retrospective Study in Korea.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Global burden of knee osteoarthritis from 1990 to 2021: Trends, inequalities, and projections to 2035.PloS one · 2025Article
- Comprehensive Pain Management in Total Joint Arthroplasty: A Review of Contemporary Approaches.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- CRISPR-mediated Sox9 activation and RelA inhibition enhance cell therapy for osteoarthritis.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2024Article
- Budget impact of the Walk With Ease program for knee osteoarthritis.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2024Article
- Regional disparities, age-related changes and sex-related differences in knee osteoarthritis.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Article
- Quality indicators for osteoarthritis pain management in the primary care setting.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2023Article
- Opioid Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries With Knee Osteoarthritis: Prevalence and Correlates of Chronic Use.Arthritis care & research · 2023Article
- Cost-Effectiveness of Surgical Weight-Loss Interventions for Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis and Class III Obesity.Arthritis care & research · 2023Article
- Does gabapentin provide benefit for patients with knee OA? A benefit-harm and cost-effectiveness analysis.Osteoarthritis and cartilage · 2023Article
- Anti-depressant medication use is a risk factor for incident knee surgery and opioid use in patients with knee osteoarthritis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Osteoarthritis Pathophysiology: Therapeutic Target Discovery may Require a Multifaceted Approach.Clinics in geriatric medicine · 2022Review
- Concern about addiction is associated with lower quality of life in patients with osteoarthritis: an exploratory, real-world data analysis.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- What Is New in Classification, Diagnosis and Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Narrative Review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- A harm reduction model to assess the impact of new treatments for pain over standard of care among patients with osteoarthritis.Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveSymptomatic knee osteoarthritis (SKOA) is a chronic, disabling condition, requiring long-term pain management; over 800,000 SKOA patients in the US use opioids on a prolonged basis. We aimed to characterize the societal economic burden of opioid use in this population.
methodsWe used the Osteoarthritis Policy Model, a validated computer simulation of SKOA, to estimate the opioid-related lifetime and annual cost generated by the US SKOA population. We included direct medical, lost productivity, criminal justice, and diversion costs. We modeled the SKOA cohort with a mean ± SD age of 54 ± 14 years and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain score of 29 ± 17 (0-100, 100 = worst). We estimated annual costs of strong ($1,381) and weak ($671) opioid regimens using Medicare fee schedules, Red Book, the Federal Supply Schedule, and published literature. The annual lost productivity and criminal justice costs of opioid use disorder (OUD), obtained from published literature, were $11,387 and $4,264, per-person, respectively. The 2015-2016 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey provided OUD prevalence. We conducted sensitivity analyses to examine the robustness of our estimates to uncertainty in input parameters.
resultsAssuming 5.1% prevalence of prolonged strong opioid use, the total lifetime opioid-related cost generated by the US SKOA population was estimated at $14.0 billion, of which only $7.45 billion (53%) were direct medical costs.
conclusionLost productivity, diversion, and criminal justice costs comprise approximately half of opioid-related costs generated by the US SKOA population. Reducing prolonged opioid use may lead to a meaningful reduction in societal costs that can be used for other public health causes.
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Registered trials
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