New Persistent Opioid Use After Surgery
Authors' conclusion
In Austria, the incidence of new persistent opioid use after surgery is lower than that in North America, but the factors associated with risk are similar.
Study context
- Population
- Adults undergoing surgery in Austria, 2016–2021, without ongoing opioid use at surgery
- Participants
- 559,096 adults · 642,857 procedures
- Outcome
- Incidence of new persistent opioid use
- Follow-up
- Up to 6 months after surgery
Methodological detailspopulation-based, national administrative data
- Population-based
- National administrative data
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
New persistent opioid use
New persistent opioid use, overall (cases)
10 810
1.7%
Appendectomy (130 cases per 40 565 procedures)
0.3%
Abdominal surgery (2198 cases per 335 034 procedures)
0.7%
Spinal surgery (3495 cases per 51 348 procedures)
6.8%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Factors associated with new persistent opioid use (logistic regression)
| OR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spinal surgery | 5.36 (5.04–5.69) | |
| Arthroplasty | 1.57 (1.48–1.67) | |
| Previous opioid use discontinued before surgery | 3.06 (2.93–3.19) | |
| Frequency of previously filled opioid prescriptions | 16.49 (13.63–19.95) | |
| 0.050.21520Odds ratio (log scale) |
Daily opioid dose (oral morphine equivalents)
- Median (IQR) daily dose 7.4 (4.1-14.9) mg
Original publication
New Persistent Opioid Use After Surgery. JAMA Netw Open. Published 3 February 2025. doi:10.
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