Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34173204›Full record

ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2022

Evaluating the Effects of Opioid Prescribing Policies on Patient Outcomes in a Safety-net Primary Care Clinic.

Christopher L Rowe, Kellene Eagen, Jennifer Ahern, Mark Faul, Alan Hubbard, Phillip Coffin

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Christopher L RoweDivision of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. chrisrowe@berkeley.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-2928-425X
Kellene EagenDepartment of Family Medicine and Community Health, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, USA.
Jennifer AhernDivision of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Mark FaulHealth Systems and Trauma Systems Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
Alan HubbardDivision of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA.
Phillip CoffinCenter on Substance Use and Health, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, USA.
University of California, Berkeley · USCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · USSan Francisco Department of Public Health · USUniversity of California, San Francisco · USUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison · US

Funding

Cohort Study of Opioids, Pain, and Safety in an era of Changing Policy (COPING)R01DA040189 · NIDA · PUBLIC HEALTH FOUNDATION ENTERPRISES · PI COFFIN, PHILLIP O · 2016 to 2020
$2.2M
Midcareer K24 Award for Mentoring and Patient-Oriented ResearchK24DA042720 · NIDA · SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI PHILLIP O COFFIN · 2016 to 2026
$1.6M
Substance use outcomes of opioid dose reduction and discontinuationU01CE002793 · CE · PUBLIC HEALTH FOUNDATION ENTERPRISES · PI COFFIN, PHILLIP O · 2016 to 2017
$799k
ACL HHS U01CE002793CDC HHS U01CE002793NCIPC CDC HHS U01 CE002793NIDA NIH HHS K24 DA042720NIDA NIH HHS K24DA042720NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA040189
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAfter decades of liberal opioid prescribing, multiple efforts have been made to reduce reliance upon opioids in clinical care. Little is known about the effects of opioid prescribing policies on outcomes beyond opioid prescribing.

objectiveTo evaluate the combined effects of multiple opioid prescribing policies implemented in a safety-net primary care clinic in San Francisco, CA, in 2013-2014.

designRetrospective cohort study and conditional difference-in-differences analysis of nonrandomized clinic-level policies. PATIENTS: 273 patients prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain in 2013 at either the treated (n=151) or control clinic (n=122) recruited and interviewed in 2017-2018.

interventionsPolicies establishing standard protocols for dispensing opioid refills and conducting urine toxicology testing, and a new committee facilitating opioid treatment decisions for complex patient cases. MAIN MEASURES: Opioid prescription (active prescription, mean dose in morphine milligram equivalents [MME]) from electronic medical charts, and heroin and opioid analgesics not prescribed to the patient (any use, use frequency) from a retrospective interview. KEY

resultsThe interventions were associated with a reduction in mean prescribed opioid dose in the first three post-policy years (year 1 conditional difference-in-differences estimate: -52.0 MME [95% confidence interval: -109.9, -10.6]; year 2: -106.2 MME [-195.0, -34.6]; year 3: -98.6 MME [-198.7, -23.9]; year 4: -72.6 MME [-160.4, 3.6]). Estimates suggest a possible positive association between the interventions and non-prescribed opioid analgesic use (year 3: 5.2 absolute percentage points [-0.1, 11.2]) and use frequency (year 3: 0.21 ordinal frequency scale points [0.00, 0.47]) in the third post-policy year.

conclusionsClinic-level opioid prescribing policies were associated with reduced dose, although the control clinic achieved similar reductions by the fourth post-policy year, and the policies may have been associated with increased non-prescribed opioid analgesic use. Clinicians should balance the urgency to reduce opioid prescribing with potential harms from rapid change.

Indexed as

Analgesics, OpioidChronic PainDrug PrescriptionsHumansPolicyPractice Patterns, Physicians'Primary Health CareRetrospective StudiesAnalgesics, Opioidillicit opioid useopioid prescribingprimary care

Identifiers

PMID34173204
PMCPMC8738839
OpenAlexW3175019785

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.