ArticleDrugs & aging2024
Use of Muscle Relaxants After Surgery in Traditional Medicare Part D Enrollees.
Article in Drugs & aging, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Intravenous methocarbamol for acute pain after spine surgery: a target trial emulation.Regional anesthesia and pain medicine · 2026Article
- Prevalence of central sensitization and somatization in adults with temporomandibular disorders-a prospective observational study.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2024Observational
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.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSurgeons have come under increased scrutiny for postoperative pain management, particularly for opioid prescribing. To decrease opioid use but still provide pain control, nonopioid medications such as muscle relaxants are being used, which can be harmful in older adults. However, the prevalence of muscle relaxant prescribing, trends in use over time, and risk of prolonged use are unknown. STUDY
designUsing a 20% representative Medicare sample, we conducted a retrospective analysis of muscle relaxant prescribing to patients ≥ 65 years of age. We merged patient data from Medicare Carrier, MedPAR, and Outpatient Files with Medicare Part D for the years 2013-2018. A total of 14 surgical procedures were included to represent a wide range of anatomic regions and specialties.
resultsThe study cohort included 543,929 patients. Of the cohort, 8111 (1.5%) received a new muscle relaxant prescription at discharge. Spine procedures accounted for 12% of all procedures but 56% of postoperative prescribing. Overall, the rate of prescribing increased over the time period (1.4-2.0%, p < 0.001), with increases in prescribing primarily in the spine (7-9.6%, p < 0.0001) and orthopedic procedure groups (0.9-1.4%, p < 0.0001). Of patients discharged with a new muscle relaxant prescription, 10.7% had prolonged use.
conclusionsThe use of muscle relaxants in the postoperative period for older adults is low, but increasing over time, especially in ortho and spine procedures. While pain control after surgery is crucial, surgeons should carefully consider the risks of muscle relaxant use, especially for older adults who are at higher risk for medication-related problems.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.