ArticlePediatrics2021
Opioid Prescribing to US Children and Young Adults in 2019.
Article in Pediatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prolonged opioid use after surgery in children, adolescents, and young adults: a systematic review.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2025Pooled it
- Evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the pharmacologic management of acute dental pain in children: A report from the American Dental Association Science and Research Institute, the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, and the Center for Integrative Global Oral Health at the University of Pennsylvania.Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) · 2023Guideline
- Reducing Opioid Analgesic Prescribing in Dentistry Through Prescribing Defaults: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2023Trial
- Association Between Default Number of Opioid Doses in Electronic Health Record Systems and Opioid Prescribing to Adolescents and Young Adults Undergoing Tonsillectomy.JAMA network open · 2022Trial
- Prescription Opioid Misuse Among High School Athletes During the Opioid Prescribing Limit Law Era: YRBSS 2017-2023.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Opioid Use in Children.The journal of pediatric pharmacology and therapeutics : JPPT : the official journal of PPAG · 2026Article
- High-Dose Opioid Use Among Adolescents and Young Adults with Chronic Digestive Disorders.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2026Article
- Safety Assessment of Perioperative Pain Medications for Children: Variation in Opioid Prescribing at Discharge.Annals of surgery open : perspectives of surgical history, education, and clinical approaches · 2026Article
- Article
- Sex-related differences in pain following posterior spinal fusion for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a retrospective cohort study.Spine deformity · 2026Article
- Adolescent outcomes of Post-operative opioid EXposure (APEX): Protocol for a multisite observational study.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2026Article
- Intoxication in Children From Opioids Prescribed to Family Members.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Impact of Opioid Limiting Legislation on Prescribing in Adolescent Breast Surgery at a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- Regional Anesthesia Utilizing Liposomal Bupivacaine, With or Without Dexamethasone, Provides Excellent Pain Control and Minimizes Opioid Consumption Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Prior adolescent oxycodone exposure enhances pain sensitivity following chronic intermittent ethanol in adult female mice.Physiology & behavior · 2025Article
- Comparing Provider and Adolescent Estimates of Postoperative Opioid Use.The Journal of surgical research · 2025Article
- Pharmacotherapy research landscape and knowledge gaps of opioids in maternal and pediatric populations.Pharmacotherapy · 2025Review
- Article
- Evaluating Postoperative Opioid Prescription Fills and Refills for Adolescents Undergoing Surgery.Journal of pediatric surgery · 2025Article
- Prevalence and Patterns of Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing by Brazilian Dentists for Pediatric Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.BioMed research international · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRecent national data are lacking on the prevalence, safety, and prescribers of opioid prescriptions dispensed to children and young adults aged 0 to 21 years.
methodsWe identified opioid prescriptions dispensed to children and young adults in 2019 in the IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription Database, which captures 92% of US pharmacies. We calculated the proportion of all US children and young adults with ≥1 dispensed opioid prescription in 2019. We calculated performance on 6 metrics of high-risk prescribing and the proportion of prescriptions written by each specialty. Of all prescriptions and those classified as high risk by ≥1 metric, we calculated the proportion written by high-volume prescribers with prescription counts at the ≥95th percentile.
resultsAnalyses included 4 027 701 prescriptions. In 2019, 3.5% of US children and young adults had ≥1 dispensed opioid prescription. Of prescriptions for opioid-naive patients, 41.8% and 3.8% exceeded a 3-day and 7-day supply, respectively. Of prescriptions for young children, 8.4% and 7.7% were for codeine and tramadol. Of prescriptions for adolescents and young adults, 11.5% had daily dosages of ≥50 morphine milligram equivalents; 4.6% had benzodiazepine overlap. Overall, 45.6% of prescriptions were high risk by ≥1 metric. Dentists and surgeons wrote 61.4% of prescriptions. High-volume prescribers wrote 53.3% of prescriptions and 53.1% of high-risk prescriptions.
conclusionsAlmost half of pediatric opioid prescriptions are high risk. To reduce high-risk prescribing, initiatives targeting high-volume prescribers may be warranted. However, broad-based initiatives are also needed to address the large share of high-risk prescribing attributable to other prescribers.
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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.