Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41079757›Full record

ArticleOrthopaedic journal of sports medicine2025

Opioid Prescribing Practices After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Systematic Review.

Martina E Hale, Michael S Ramos, Theresa Kline, Kurt P Spindler, Michael J Scarcella

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

5 authors.

Martina E HaleCleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4966-5270
Michael S RamosCleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0127-4447
Theresa KlineCleveland Clinic Floyd L. Loop Alumni Library, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Kurt P SpindlerCleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0185-6922
Michael J ScarcellaCleveland Clinic Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The effect of the opioid epidemic has caused legislators and physicians alike to consider limitations on opioid prescription sizes. For anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) in particular, current knowledge is lacking on the size of postoperative opioid prescriptions written by orthopaedic surgeons. Purpose/Hypothesis: This review sought to quantify opioid prescriptions after ACLR. It was hypothesized that no consensus would exist among orthopaedic surgeons regarding current prescribing practices, leading to variability in prescription amounts. Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Under PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a literature search was performed using PubMed, MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases from each database's inception through August 12, 2022. Search terms included "anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction," "opiate alkaloids," "hydrocodone," "oxycodone," and "narcotics." Studies were included if they quantified postoperative opioid prescriptions. The exclusion criteria included pediatric studies, abstracts or conference papers, reviews, unpublished randomized controlled trials, case reports, and papers not in the English language. Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies criteria were used to evaluate the quality of all included studies. This search strategy yielded a total of 1668 studies. Results: Eight studies quantified postoperative ACLR opioid prescriptions. Initial prescription amount in the absence of legislation or guidelines ranged, on average, from 49.78 opioid tablets to 104.5 opioid tablets, with prescription amounts varying by regions of the United States. Half of the studies (n = 4) examined the effect of opioid-limiting legislation or guidelines on prescribing practices. They found that enactment correlated with significant decreases in the number of opioids prescribed. When pain interventions were given to supplement opioid prescriptions, prescribers also decreased their prescription size. Conclusion: Our review demonstrates that differences exist in the quantity of oral opioids prescribed to patients undergoing ACLR. Opioid limiting legislation is effective in decreasing prescription size. However, there is no consistency of data used as evidence for guiding opioid-limiting legislation. This review is the first to explore opioid prescription size after ACLR and underscores the need for further research exploring patient opioid consumption, particularly as a means for formulating data-driven legislation.

Indexed as

hydrocodonenarcoticsopioid-limiting legislationoxycodoneprescription

Identifiers

PMID41079757
PMCPMC12508547

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Registered trials

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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.