ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2022
Prolonged use of newly prescribed gabapentin after surgery.
Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Predictors and Clinical Outcomes of Long-Term Opioid Therapy in Older Adults: A Systematic Review.Pharmacotherapy · 2026Pooled it
- Gabapentin as an adjunct to multimodal pain regimens in surgical patients: the GAP placebo-controlled RCT and economic evaluation.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2026Trial
- Prolonged Use of Postoperative Gabapentin After Discharge From a Skilled Nursing Facility.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- Substitution Patterns After Discontinuation of CNS-Active Medications in Older Adults in Primary Care.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use Following Hospital Discharge Among Medicare Beneficiaries.The American journal of managed care · 2026Observational
- Factors associated with prolonged use of newly prescribed gabapentinoids in older adults undergoing colorectal surgery.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2026Article
- Impact of Postoperative Chronic Back Pain Syndrome on the Incidence of Psychiatric and Brain Disorders, and All-Cause Mortality.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Patterns and Characteristics of Gabapentin Use Among Medicare Beneficiaries.Drugs & aging · 2025Article
- On Patient Safety: It Is Time to Rethink Gabapentin.Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2025Article
- Use of Muscle Relaxants After Surgery in Traditional Medicare Part D Enrollees.Drugs & aging · 2024Article
- Trends in the Use of Gabapentinoids and Opioids in the Postoperative Period Among Older Adults.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- New psychotropic medication use among Medicare beneficiaries with dementia after hospital discharge.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSurgeons have made substantial efforts to decrease postoperative opioid prescribing, largely because it can lead to prolonged use. These efforts include adoption of non-opioid pain medication including gabapentin. Like opioids, gabapentin use may be prolonged, increasing the risk of altered mental status and even overdose and death when taken concurrently with opioids. However, little is known about postoperative prolonged use of gabapentin in older adults.
methodsWe merged a 20% sample of Medicare Carrier, MedPAR and Outpatient Files with Part D for 2013-2018. We included patients >65 years old without prior gabapentinoid use who underwent common non-cataract surgical procedures. We defined new postoperative gabapentin as fills for 7 days before surgery until 7 days after discharge. We excluded patients whose discharge disposition was hospice or death. The primary outcome was prolonged use of gabapentin, defined as a fill>90 days after discharge. To identify risk factors for prolonged use, we constructed logistic regression models, adjusted for procedure and patient characteristics, length of stay, disposition location, and care complexity.
resultsOverall, 17,970 patients (3% of all eligible patients) had a new prescription for gabapentin after surgery. Of these, the mean age was 73 years old and 62% were female. The most common procedures were total knee (45%) and total hip (21%) replacements. Prolonged use occurred in 22%. Those with prolonged use were more likely to be women (64% vs. 61%), be non-White (14% vs. 12%), have concurrent prolonged opioid use (44% vs. 18%), and have undergone emergency surgery (8% vs. 4%). On multivariable analysis, being female, having a higher Charlson comorbidity score, having an opioid prescription at discharge and at >90 days and having a higher care complexity were associated with prolonged use of gabapentin.
conclusionsMore than one-fifth of older adults prescribed gabapentin postoperatively filled a prescription >90 days after discharge, especially among patients with more comorbidities and concurrent prolonged opioid use, increasing the risk of adverse drug events and polypharmacy.
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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.