Caution urged in postsurgery opioid prescribing

Abstract

Young people who are opioid‐naïve and undergo surgical and dental procedures are likely to be prescribed opioids for pain. A recent study has found that long‐term opioid use by these young people's family members is associated with these procedures, and concludes that physicians should screen young patients for opioid use in their family members. The purpose of the retrospective cohort study, which relied on commercial insurance claims from 2010 to 2016, looked at 346,251 opioid‐naïve patients aged 13 to 21 years who underwent surgical and dental procedures and who were dependents on a family insurance plan.