Prescribing Opioids at Discharge: Most Patients Do Not Have a History of Overuse

Researchers reviewed charts from 296 patients (age 18 or older) discharged from an emergency department (ED) in Colorado with a prescription for opioids to determine characteristics of the patients and the ED visits. Pharmacists then checked the Colorado prescription drug monitoring program to determine these patients' opioid prescription histories for the previous 6 months.

The number of prior opioid prescriptions ranged from 0 to 26. Overall, 41% of patients had no prior opioid prescriptions, half had 1 to 7 prescriptions, and 9% had 7 or more prescriptions. Of the patients in the highest decile of number of prior prescriptions, more than 60% did not report a chronic painful condition or list opioids as one of their medications during thei…