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Persistent postoperative opioid use in Europe: A systematic review
Taalke Sitter1, Patrice Forget
1From the Epidemiology group, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen (TS, PF) and Department of Anaesthesia, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen, UK (PF).
European Journal of Anaesthesiology
|October 19, 2020
Summary
Persistent postoperative opioid use in Europe is not well understood, with 2-41% of patients using opioids 3 months after surgery. Further research is needed to determine if this poses a public health risk.
Area of Science:
- Pain Management
- Public Health
- Pharmacovigilance
Background:
- Postoperative opioid prescriptions are linked to the opioid epidemic in the US.
- The extent of opioid overprescribing or misuse in Europe is largely unknown.
- Persistent postoperative opioid use is a growing concern.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the proportion of adults using opioids persistently after surgery in European countries.
- To investigate the prevalence of long-term opioid use following surgical procedures in Europe.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of published literature.
- Searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed/MEDLINE, and Scopus databases.
- Included studies reporting opioid use in adult patients at least 3 months post-surgery.
Main Results:
- 12 studies were included from 1,307 initially found.
- Between 2% and 41% of patients used opioids 3 months after surgery across all studies.
- For total hip/knee arthroplasties, opioid use ranged from 7.9% to 41% at 3 months.
Conclusions:
- It is not possible to specify persistent opioid use by country or surgery type due to wide variations.
- The observed wide ranges prevent confirmation or denial of a public health issue related to persistent opioid use in Europe.
- Further investigation is required to understand the scope of persistent postoperative opioid use in Europe.
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