FINDINGS from an analysis that included more than 200,000 US patients who underwent common surgical procedures suggests that the optimal length of opioid pain prescriptions is four to nine days for general surgery procedures, four to 13 days for women's health procedures, and six to 15 days for musculoskeletal procedures, according to a study published by JAMA Surgery.
As rates of opioid prescribing have increased dramatically in recent years, the overprescription of pain medications has been implicated as a driver of the burgeoning opioid epidemic and the associated increases in overdose deaths in the United States, researchers wrote.
The study of 215,140 people, showed median opioid prescription lengths ranged from four days post general surgery to six days for musculoskeletal procedures, but there was less refill if used for nine to 15 days respectively.
Opioid prescriptions post-surgery should balance adequate pain treatment with minimising the duration of treatment adding that a seven-day limit, as per the CDC, may be "inappropriately restrictive", authors concluded.
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