Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36442133›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2022

Inappropriate prescribing of opioids for patients undergoing surgery.

Nathan H Varady, Christopher M Worsham, Antonia F Chen, Eric L Smith, Jaemin Woo, Anupam B Jena

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 42% 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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. 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 6 institutions in 1 country.

Nathan H VaradyDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY 10021.ORCID 0000-0001-8943-0987
Christopher M WorshamDepartment of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.ORCID 0000-0002-1611-6871
Antonia F ChenDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.
Eric L SmithDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, New England Baptist Hospital, Boston, MA 02120.ORCID 0000-0003-1609-7639
Jaemin WooDepartment of Economics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02906.
Anupam B JenaDepartment of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
Brigham and Women's Hospital · USBrown University · USHarvard University · USHospital for Special Surgery · USNational Bureau of Economic Research · USNew England Baptist Hospital · US

Funding

Prescribing of opioids at hospital discharge and associated adverse patient outcomesR01HS026753 · AHRQ · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI JENA, ANUPAM BAPU · 2019 to 2023
$1.9M
Use of Prescription Opioids Following Surgery and Associated Adverse Patient Outcomes in Older AdultsR56AG059620 · NIA · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI JENA, ANUPAM BAPU · 2019 to 2020
$1.4M
AHRQ HHS R01 HS026753NIA NIH HHS R56 AG059620
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In response to the opioid epidemic in the United States, states have passed policies aimed at regulating how opioids are prescribed by physicians. For such policies to be effective, however, opioids must be prescribed to the patients for whom they are intended. Whether opioid prescriptions are written for those who are not intended to consume them is empirically difficult to show. In a commercially insured population, we examined opioid prescriptions written for and filled by spouses of patients undergoing outpatient surgery on the day of a patient's surgery compared with the surrounding days. Because patients may be unable to fill prescriptions themselves immediately after surgery, surgeons may prescribe opioids to a patient's spouse, which would be clinically inappropriate. Among 450,125 opioid-naïve couples studied, for patients who did not fill perioperative opioid prescriptions themselves, the rate of spousal fills on the day of surgery (DOS) was 2.39 fills per 1,000 surgeries compared with 0.44 fills on all other perioperative days (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 5.5, 95% CI, 4.6-6.5). Increases in spousal opioid fills were not present for patients that filled opioid prescriptions themselves. These findings suggest intentional, clinically inappropriate prescribing of opioids.

Indexed as

EpidemicsPhysiciansAnalgesics, OpioidHumansInappropriate PrescribingPolicyAnalgesics, Opioiddrug safetyhealth economicsopioids

Identifiers

PMID36442133
PMCPMC9894214
OpenAlexW4310102424

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.