National Postoperative Opioid Prescribing Rates Following Pediatric Urology Procedures Before and After the 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics Challenge to Reduce Opioid Prescribing: A Claims Database Analysis

Abstract

ObjectiveTo evaluate trends in opioid prescribing rates following pediatric urologic surgery. MethodsWe queried the TriNetX Research database for patients under age 18 who underwent one of seven common pediatric urology procedures. We identified the proportion of patients that received an oral opioid prescription within 5 days of surgery. The primary analysis evaluated the trend inpostoperative opioid prescriptions using 3-month intervals from January 2010 to December 2022. We performed an interrupted time series analysis assessing trends in opioid prescribing patterns both before and after the AAP challenge. ResultsOf the 81,644 pediatric urology procedures, 29,595 (36.2%) received a postoperative opioid prescription, including 29.8% of circumcisions, 25.8% of hydrocelectomies, 39.6% of hypospadias repairs, 42.7% of pyeloplasties, 42.8% of ureteral reimplants. For all procedures we observed rising rates of opioid prescribing, increasing by 0.9% per 3-month interval prior to the challenge statement release from 2010-2018. We observed an overall significant decrease in opioid prescribing by 2.2% per 3-month interval following the challenge statement release. Additionally, since 2018, there was a significant decrease in opioid prescribing in all of the race, ethnicity, and age cohorts. ConclusionsOpioid prescribing following pediatric urology procedures has sharply decreased following the 2018 AAP challenge statement which underscores the value of cross-specialty quality improvement initiatives. Nonetheless, opioid prescribing remains high with potential racial or age disparities that warrant further investigation.