ArticleThe British journal of surgery2024
Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries.
Article in The British journal of surgery, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 6 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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patient-reported outcomes, postoperative pain and pain relief after day-case surgery (POPPY): short-term peri-operative analgesic use.Anaesthesia · 2026Observational
- Acute Postoperative Pain in Orthopaedic Trauma and Non-Trauma Patients: An Analysis of the China Acute Postoperative Pain Study (CAPOPS).European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Article
- Predicting opioid consumption after surgical discharge: a multinational derivation and validation study using a foundation model.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Cracking the code of HBV persistence: cutting-edge approaches to targeting cccDNA in chronic hepatitis B with or without pyogenic liver Abscesses.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- Postoperative Multimodal Analgesia Strategy for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery in Elderly Colorectal Cancer Patients.Pain and therapy · 2024Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBalancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.
methodsThis international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.
resultsThe study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (β coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.
conclusionOpioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely.
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