Continuous increase in fatal overdoses in opioid analgesics

Many people use opioid analgesics for months after surgery
Some diseases are treated with opiods. The powerful analgesic is also used after surgery to guarantee the patient freedom from pain. However, researchers now found that a significant number of patients still took painkillers with opioids many months after surgery. This results in increasing rates of overdoses of the addictive drug.

After so-called joint replacement surgery, patients are often prescribed analgesics with opioids. Sometimes even over periods of several months. Researchers at the University of Michigan have now found in an investigation that these prescriptions increase overdose rates in the United States. The experts published the results of their study in the journal "Pain".

The abuse of painkillers brings with it great dangers. Especially with so-called opioid analgesics there is a risk of addiction and death by overdose. (Image: Rido / fotolia.com)

There is more and more overdose of analgesics with opioids
The increased use of opioids leads to more and more overdoses of the drug. If, for example, patients are prescribed powerful analgesics with opioids for months after endoprosthetics, the risk of overdose increases massively, explain the physicians. Such joint replacement surgery is becoming increasingly common in the United States, and this is also where the incidence of opiod overdoses is increasing. The prescribed analgesics with opioids include, for example, drugs such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet, the experts add.

Current example of the overdose of opioids: The late singer Prince
A well-known current example of drug overdose with opioids is certainly the singer Prince. He died in April following the use of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic drug containing opioids, the experts explain. The artist took the drug because he allegedly suffered from severe pain in the hip. These are said to be the result of an injury which he had already suffered years ago during the performance of intensive acrobatics during a stage show, the doctors add.

The study examined 574 patients with knee or hip surgery
For their new study, the researchers studied 574 patients. These had all previously undergone knee or hip surgery. About 30 percent of patients took potentially addictive opioid analgesics before their surgery. Of these, 53 percent of knee patients and 35 percent of patients with hip problems then used the addictive drugs for another six months after surgery, the researchers say. Of the patients who did not take opioids prior to surgery, eight percent of knee patients and four percent of so-called hip patients also used analgesics, six months after surgery, the researchers explain.

Which patients are most at risk of taking opioids in the long term??
The strongest predictor of long-term use of opioids among study participants was the intake of high doses of the drug prior to joint replacement, say the authors of the study. The results suggest that some patients continue to use the opioids despite an improvement in their hip or knee pain. This also applies to some patients who had not used opioids prior to joint replacement surgery. All of these individuals are at risk of becoming chronic users of the drugs through abuse, the experts at the University of Michigan warn. The use of narcotic analgesics after joint replacement surgery is much more common than previously thought, explains author Jenna Goesling of the University of Michigan. Physicians should better educate patients about the potential dangers of these medicines. In addition, physicians should abstain from prescribing the painkillers before and after surgery and always determine exactly if the drug is really needed or if there are other alternatives. (As)