Opioid over-prescription after total joint arthroplasty: Findings from patient reported opioid consumption journals

Maureen K Dwyer; Christopher M Melnic; Catharine Tumpowsky; Tyler Humphrey; Shayan Hosseinzadeh; Hany S Bedair

doi:10.1016/j.jor.2021.12.001

Opioid over-prescription after total joint arthroplasty: Findings from patient reported opioid consumption journals

J Orthop. 2021 Dec 16:29:1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2021.12.001. eCollection 2022 Jan-Feb.

Authors

Maureen K Dwyer^{1

2}, Christopher M Melnic^{1

2}, Catharine Tumpowsky², Tyler Humphrey^{1

2}, Shayan Hosseinzadeh¹, Hany S Bedair^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA, USA.
² Kaplan Joint Center, Newton Wellesley Hospital, 2000 Washington St, Newton, MA, USA.

Abstract

We sought to determine postoperative opioid consumption for opioid-naïve patients undergoing total knee and hip arthroplasty (THA and TKA) procedures via an observational cohort study, consisting of 55 patients who underwent either primary unilateral TKA (n = 28) or THA (n = 27). Patients were provided with a journal to track daily consumption of pain medicine. Patients were prescribed an average of 67 opioid pills post-operatively; however, they consumed an average of 31 pills (214 morphine equivalent doses - MED). TKA patients received (p = 0.01) and consumed (p = 0.005) higher amounts of opioids. On average, patients ceased opioid usage at 14 days post-operatively.

Keywords: For indexing: opioid; Patient journal; Total joint arthroplasty.