Characteristics of postoperative opioid prescription use following lumbar discectomy

The role of spine surgeons in precipitating and mediating sustained prescription opioid use remains controversial at this time. The purpose of this study was to identify prescription opioid use following lumbar discectomy and characterize the source of opioid prescriptions by clinician specialty (surgeon vs nonsurgeon).

Using a retrospective review, the authors identified adult patients undergoing lumbar discectomy for a primary diagnosis of disc herniation between 2010 and 2017. The primary outcome was sustained prescription opioid use, defined as issue of an opioid prescription at a time point 90 days or longer after the surgical procedure. The primary predictor variable was prescriber specialty (surgeon vs nonsurgeon). The independent effect of provider specialty on the number of opioid prescriptions issued to patients was assessed using multivariable Poisson regression that accounted for confounding from all other clinical and sociodemographic variables.

This study included 622 patients who underwent a lumbar discectomy. A total of 610 opioid prescriptions were dispensed for this population after surgery. In total, 126 patients (20.3%) had at least one opioid prescription in the period beyond 90 days following their surgery. The majority of opioid prescriptions, 494 of 610 (81%), were non-inpatient prescriptions. Among these, only a minority (26%) of outpatient opioid prescriptions were written by surgical providers. Following multivariable Poisson regression analysis, surgical providers were found to have a lower likelihood of issuing an opioid prescription compared to nonsurgical clinicians (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.78; 95% CI 0.68-0.89; p = 0.001).

A minority of lumbar discectomy patients continue to receive opioid prescriptions up to 15 months after surgery. Many of these prescriptions are written by nonsurgical providers unaffiliated with the operative team.