Associations with daily opioid use during hospitalization following lumbar fusion: A contemporary cohort study

• Published in: Clinical neurology and neurosurgery 2023-01, Vol.224, p.107555-107555, Article 107555
• Main Authors: Lu, Victor M., Brusko, G. Damian, Levi, David J., Borowsky, Peter, Wang, Michael Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Analgesics; Analgesics, Opioid - therapeutic use; Back pain; Back surgery; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Lumbar fusion; Male; Middle Aged; Morphine; Multivariate analysis; Narcotics; Neurology; Opioid; Opioid-Related Disorders; Opioids; Pain management; Pain, Postoperative - drug therapy; Patients; Prospective Studies; Recovery (Medical); Reduction; Regression analysis; Spine (lumbar); Spine surgery; Surgeons; TLIF; Trends
• ISSN: 0303-8467; 1872-6968
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clineuro.2022.107555

Predicting opioid use after lumbar spine fusion remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to identify clinical and demographic parameters that could be associated with opioid use trends during hospitalization after lumbar spine fusion. A cohort study of prospective data for all lumbar fusions performed by single surgeon for an 18-month period from 2019 to 2020 was conducted. Univariable and multivariable linear regression analyses were used to assess associations. Amongst the overall cohort of 136 lumbar fusion patients, the mean age was 66.1 ± 10 years, there was an average of 1.7 ± levels treated. Overall, mean opioid use for total stay was 276 ± 360 morphine milligram equivalents (MME), with the greatest amount on postoperative day 1 (POD1) with 81.6 ± 86 MME. Multivariable linear analysis identified older age (−9.9 MME/year; P