Long‐term prescribed opioid use after hospitalization or emergency department presentation among opioid naïve adults (2014–2020)—A population‐based descriptive cohort study

Abstract

AimsThe aim of this work is to describe opioid initiation and long‐term use after emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalizations in New South Wales, Australia, by patient, admission and clinical characteristics.MethodsThis is a population‐based cohort study, including all hospitalizations and ED visits between 2014 and 2020, linked to medicine dispensings, deaths and cancer registrations (Medicines Intelligence Data Platform), among adults with no opioid dispensings in the previous year. Outcome measures were opioid initiations (dispensed within 7 days of discharge) and long‐term use (90 days of continuous exposure, 90–270 days after initiation).ResultsThe cohort included 16 153 096 admissions by 4.2 million opioid‐naïve adults; 39.0% were ED presentations without hospital admission, 16.8% hospital admissions via ED and 44.2% direct hospital admissions. Opioids were initiated post‐discharge for 6.2% of ED, 8.3% of hospital via ED and 10.0% of direct hospital admissions; of these 1.0%, 2.5% and 0.5% progressed to long‐term opioid use, respectively. Initiation was lowest in obstetric admissions without surgery (1.0%), and highest among trauma admissions (25.4%), obstetric admissions with surgical intervention (19.8%) and non‐trauma surgical admissions (12.0%). Long‐term use was highest among medical admissions via ED (3.5%), trauma admissions (2.3%) and ED alone (1.0%). From 2014 to 2020, overall opioid initiations decreased 16% from 8.7% to 7.2%, and long‐term opioid use decreased 33% from 1.3% to 0.8%.ConclusionsBoth opioid initiation and long‐term use decreased over time; however, the higher rates of long‐term use following trauma, and medical admissions via ED, warrant further surveillance. Strategies supporting appropriate prescribing and access to multidisciplinary pain services will facilitate best practice care.