Opioid and Multimodal Analgesia Use Following Urological Trauma

To examine opioid use following Urological trauma. Increased opioid use is associated with inferior outcomes and risk of dependence, particularly in vulnerable populations. In contrast, multimodal analgesia following trauma allows decreased pain and readmission. Currently there is a paucity of data describing opioid usage following urological trauma. The purpose of this study was to assess utilization of opioids and multimodal pain regimens following urologic trauma.

We retrospectively examined 116 patients hospitalized following urologic trauma from 2016-2021. Inpatient and discharge utilization of opioids, multimodal analgesia and length of stay were stratified by affected organ. Analyses were performed in STATA with p<0.05 reaching significance.

116 patients were assessed; 84 (72.4%) required surgery. In the first 10 days, bladder injuries incurred higher mean and median OMEQ than other urological injuries. In nearly all groups, OMEQ prescribed at discharge is less than average inpatient OMEQ. Eighty-six (74.1%) patients received at least 2 different opioid medications while inpatient. Those with a history of opioid use received a significantly higher OMEQ dose per day (p<0.001). There were no significant differences between opioid prescribing patterns or average OMEQ dosages prescribed at discharge between those patients managed either surgically or non-operatively. Only 24 (20.7%) patients met the criteria for utilization of multimodal analgesia.

Multimodal analgesia is severely underutilized following urological trauma. Combined with the development of opioid tolerance over long hospital stays, this creates an avenue for opioid misuse following discharge and provides an opportunity for improvement.