Evaluation of a mobile application to decrease opioid misuse in patients undergoing cesarean section: a randomized...

Opioid misuse and addiction are at epidemic levels in the United States. Postoperative opioid prescription is inconsistent and often excessive, including for cesarean section patients. Technology, such as mobile applications and clinical decision support tools, can be used to decrease opioid use and misuse among patients, and to determine more appropriate prescribing practices for specific procedures. The objective of this study was to examine the preliminary impact of the Continuing Precision Medicine (CPM) mobile application to reduce the use of opioid pain medication among women who underwent cesarean section. The primary outcome is morphine milligram equivalents (MME), while the secondary outcomes will be delay to dosages, decrease of usage, and pain scores.

Patients undergoing cesarean section were randomized to either a control group or an experimental group, which used the CPMRx mobile app to help manage postoperative pain. Logistic regression analyses were run to predict opioid misuse by group (control [electronic monitoring blister pack only] versus CPMRx [electronic monitoring blister pack plus mobile application]) and odds ratios (ORs) were calculated. Relative risk (RR) was also estimated by log-binomial regression.

In phase I, 105 patients were assessed for eligibility, however, 66 were excluded (not meeting criteria or declined to participate). In phase 2, 98 patients were assessed for eligibility, however, 48 were excluded for the aforementioned. Results of the logistic regression showed that opioid misuse differed significantly by group (χ² = 7.27, p = 0.007) with participants in the CPMRx group experiencing a 92% reduction in odds of opioid misuse compared to blister packs only (OR = 0.08, p = 0.03). Relative risk estimation by log-binomial regression also revealed that patients in the control group were at 7 times higher risk of opioid misuse than those using the CPMRx app (Wald χ² = 3.82, RR = 7.00, p = 0.05). Among the 21 participants in Phase I who did not misuse their prescription opioids, the average number of pills used was 2.7 (SD = 3.5); 95% of patients used 8 or fewer pills, 90% used 6 or fewer, 75% used 4 or fewer, and half of participants used 1 or fewer opioids.

Women using the CPMRx mobile application were less likely to misuse their prescription opioids during the postoperative period following cesarean section. A prescription of 7 tablets of 5 mg oxycodone may be a more appropriate prescription size among this group. Systematically right-sizing prescriptions, including for subgroups, may decrease both patient- and community-level risk of opioid misuse and reduce public health burden.

The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05461196, 18/07/2022).