Changes in opioid prescription, potential misuse, and substance use disorder in pediatric cancer survivors following the 2016 CDC opioid prescribing guideline.

Abstract

6506 Background: The 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guideline for prescribing opioids, despite not being intended for cancer-related pain, has been shown to be associated with declines in opioid prescriptions among adults with cancer. We examine the changes in opioid prescription, potential misuse, and substance use disorder (SUD) following the guideline release among pediatric cancer survivors, a population at high risk for chronic pain. Methods: Using nationwide private insurance claims data, we identified survivors (aged ≤21 years at cancer diagnosis) who completed treatment for leukemia, lymphoma, central nervous system, bone, or gonadal cancers in 2009-2018 (N=8,969). We also identified enrollees without cancer who were matched based on age, gender, and region as a control group (N=44,845). Outcomes included (1) any opioid prescription and (2) any indicator for potential misuse or SUD within 1-year post-therapy. We conducted interrupted time series analysis, where time period was assessed by quarters based on the quarter-year of patients’ therapy completion. Segmented linear regression was conducted to estimate the immediate change (“level” change) and the change in the time trend (“slope” change) in each outcome after the guideline release in March 2016, accounting for autocorrelation. Results: Before the guideline release, opioid prescription rate (21.1% vs. 7.2%) and rate of potential misuse or SUD (5.6% vs. 1.9%) were higher among survivors than controls ( p<0.05). Post guideline release, we found a declining trend in opioid prescription rate among survivors (slope change = -1.0 percentage point [ppt]; p<0.001). Survivors also experienced an immediate level decrease (-2.0 ppt; p=0.040) and a decreasing trend (slope change = -0.4 ppt; p=0.004) in the rate of potential misuse or SUD. Among controls, there were decreasing trends in opioid prescription rate (slope change = -0.3 ppt; p<0.001) and rate of potential misuse or SUD (slope change = -0.1 ppt; p=0.042). By three years post guideline release, relative reductions in opioid prescription rate and rate of potential misuse or SUD were 51.8% and 76.0%, respectively, among survivors ( p<0.05), with controls experiencing smaller relative reductions (29.4% and 36.5%; p<0.05). Conclusions: Following the release of the CDC opioid prescribing guideline in March 2016, there were reductions in opioid prescription rate and rate of potential opioid misuse or SUD among both pediatric cancer survivors and controls, with survivors experiencing greater reductions.