Wide Variation and Overprescription of Opioids After Elective Surgery

Objective: We aimed to identify opioid prescribing practices across surgical specialties and institutions. Background: In an effort to minimize the contribution of prescription narcotics to the nationwide opioid epidemic, reductions in postoperative opioid prescribing have been proposed. It has been suggested that a maximum of 7 days, or 200 mg oral morphine equivalents (OME), should be prescribed at discharge in opioid-naïve patients. Methods: Adults undergoing 25 common elective procedures from 2013 to 2015 were identified from American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data from 3 academic centers in Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida. Opioids prescribed at discharge were abstracted from pharmacy data and converted into OME. Wilcoxon Rank-Sum and Kruskal-Wallis tests assessed variations. Results: Of 7651 patients, 93.9% received opioid prescriptions at discharge. Of 7181 patients who received opioid prescriptions, a median of 375 OME (interquartile range 225–750) were prescribed. Median OME varied by sex (375 men vs 390 women, P = 0.002) and increased with age (375 age 18–39 to 425 age 80+, P < 0.001). Patients with obesity and patients with non-cancer diagnoses received more opioids (both P < 0.001). Subset analysis of the 5756 (75.2%) opioid-naïve patients showed the majority received >200 OME (80.9%). Significant variations in opioid prescribing practices were seen within each procedure and between the 3 medical centers. Conclusions: The majority of patients were overprescribed opioids. Significant prescribing variation exists that was not explained by patient factors. These data will guide practices to optimize opioid prescribing after surgery.