Opioid and non-opioid analgesic regimens after fracture and risk of serious opioid-related events

Abstract

Background Non-opioid analgesics are prescribed in combination with opioids among patients with long bone fracture to reduce opioid prescribing needs, yet evidence is limited on whether they reduce the risk of serious opioid-related events (SOREs). We compared the risk of SOREs among hospitalized patients with long bone fracture discharged with filled opioid prescriptions, with and without non-opioid analgesics.Design We identified a retrospective cohort of analgesic-naïve adult patients with a long bone fracture hospitalization using the Merative MarketScan Commercial Database (2013–2020). The exposure was opioid and non-opioid analgesic (gabapentinoids, muscle relaxants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen) prescriptions filled in the 3 days before through 42 days after discharge. The outcome was the development of new persistent opioid use or opioid use disorder during follow-up (day 43 through day 408 after discharge). We used Cox proportional hazards regression with inverse probability of treatment weighting with overlap trimming to compare outcomes among those that filled an opioid and a non-opioid analgesic to those that filled only an opioid analgesic. In secondary analyses, we used separate models to compare those that filled a prescription for each specific non-opioid analgesic type with opioids to those that filled only opioids.Results Of 29 489 patients, most filled an opioid prescription alone (58.4%) or an opioid and non-opioid (22.0%). In the weighted proportional hazards regression model accounting for relevant covariates and total MME, filling both a non-opioid analgesic and an opioid analgesic was associated with 1.63 times increased risk of SOREs compared with filling an opioid analgesic only (95% CI 1.41 to 1.89). Filling a gabapentin prescription in combination with an opioid was associated with an increased risk of SOREs compared with those that filled an opioid only (adjusted HR: 1.84 (95% CI1.48 to 2.27)).Conclusions Filling a non-opioid analgesic in combination with an opioid was associated with an increased risk of SOREs after long bone fracture.Level of evidence Level III, prognostic/epidemiological.Study type Retrospective cohort study.