Most people who receive a prescription for opioid painkillers to relieve the pain of surgery or dental treatment will meet it immediately. However, one study found that some people met these prescriptions after more than a month. Long after the acute pain from their care subsided.
In 2019, 1% of opioid prescriptions from dentists and surgeons were filled for more than 30 days after writing. JAMA network open According to the University of Michigan team. Although low, its proportion, when generalized to all surgical and opioid prescriptions in the United States, represents more than 260,000 opioid prescriptions per year.
“Our findings suggest that some patients are using opioids from surgeons and dentists for reasons or time frames other than the prescribing intentions,” said UM Pediatrician. Said Kao-Ping Chua, MD, Lead Author of UM Pediatricians. Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research (CHEAR) Center and UM Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. “Both of these are forms of prescription opioid misuse and are strong risk factors for opioid overdose.”
The authors of the study note that state and federal laws governing the expiration dates of controlled substance prescriptions may be partially responsible.
In 2019, 18 states allowed prescriptions for Schedule II opioids and other controlled substances (the ones with the highest risk of diversion due to misuse) to be completed within 6 months of writing. .. In eight other states, these medications were allowed to be dispensed within one year of prescription.
“It’s confusing to allow the state to fill out a prescription for regulated substances for a long time,” Chua said. He states that tightening state law can be an easy way to prevent or reduce misuse associated with delayed administration of opioids.
As evidence, this study investigated the impact of Minnesota law banning opioid dispensing for more than 30 days after writing in July 2019. After implementation, delayed dispensing declined rapidly compared to other states.
The authors note that holistic rules that limit the time frame for meeting opioid prescriptions can inadvertently harm patients taking medications due to chronic pain. .. Instead, they say policymakers can enforce laws that limit this time frame only if opioids are written for acute pain.
The authors also state that prescribers can reduce dispensing delays by including prescribing instructions not to dispense opioids after a particular time frame.
In addition to Chua, the authors of this study include Romesh Nalliah of the UM School of Dentistry, Michael Smith of the UM Pharmacy, Research Assistant Shreya Bahl, and Jennifer Waljee and Chad Brummett, co-directors of the Michigan opioid. Prescription and involvement network.
As is known, OPEN is committed to increasing safe disposal options by providing evidence-based opioid prescribing guidelines and opioid teaching materials for acute pain.
Cited paper: “”Estimating the prevalence of delayed dispensing in opioid prescriptions from US surgeons and dentists. ” JAMA network opened. DOI: 10.1001 / jamanetworkopen.2022.14311
