ArticleJournal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open2022
Quantifying unused opioids following emergency and ambulatory care: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Article in Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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
3 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Analysis of Opioid Disposal in Hospitalized Patients According to Dosage Form, Dose, Cost, and Admission Type: A Retrospective Study.Journal of research in pharmacy practice · 2026Article
- Quantifying unused opioids following emergency and ambulatory care: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2022Article
- Piloting an opioid callback program in community pharmacies.Journal of the American Pharmacists Association : JAPhAArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: To quantify unused opioids among adult and pediatric patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) or ambulatory care settings with a prescription for acute pain. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, CINHAL, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, and the gray literature from inception to April 29, 2021. We included observational studies in which any patient with an acutely painful condition received a prescription for an opioid on discharge from an outpatient care setting, and unused opioids were quantified. Two reviewers screened records for eligibility, extracted data, and conducted the quality assessment. Where possible, we pooled data and otherwise described the results of studies narratively. Total unused prescriptions were synthesized using a weighted average. Random effects models were used, and heterogeneity was measured by the I Results: In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 9 studies in emergency and ambulatory care settings, 59.6% of prescribed opioids remained unused; pediatric patients had 69.3% of their prescriptions remaining, compared to 54.6% among adult patients. The highest proportion of unused opioids was found following dental extractions (82.6%). Conclusions and Relevance: More than 50% of opioids remain unused following prescriptions for acute pain. Responsible prescribing must be accompanied by education on safer use, storage, and disposal.
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Registered trials
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