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Surgeons vary considerably in the dose and duration of opioids they prescribe to patients postoperatively. To better define optimal postoperative opioid prescribing, researchers used a U.S. Department of Defense Military Health System database to identify opioid-naive patients (age range, 18–64) who had undergone one of eight common surgical procedures between 2005 and 2014.
More than 215,000 patients filled at least one prescription for opioids within 14 days of their procedures, and 19% received at least one refill. Although 7-day durations sufficed for most patients, significant variability in duration of opioid consumption was noted among types of procedures: Patients who underwent musculoskeletal procedures (e.g., anterior cruciate liga…