Prevalence and Predictors of Prolonged Post-surgical Opioid Use: a Prospective Observational Cohort Study

May 9, 2017 updated by: Natasha Stark, University of Notre Dame Australia
Post-surgical opioid prescribing intended for the short-term management of acute pain may lead to long-term opioid use, and its associated harms. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of prolonged post-surgical opioid use, and patient-related factors associated with prolonged post-surgical opioid use.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

There are growing concerns that surgery is a risk factor for chronic opioid use. Existing studies suggest that post-surgical opioid prescribing intended for the short-term management of acute pain may result in unintended long-term opioid use for a small, but meaningful number of patients.

Increasing numbers of patients are discharged from hospital post-surgery with opioids for the management of their acute post-surgical pain. Opioids have proven efficacy for the management of acute post-surgical pain, but can cause significant harm when used long-term for non-cancer pain. Evidence suggests that post-surgical opioid use continues in some patients for years after surgery.

Identification of patients at risk of prolonged opioid use after surgery may assist in reducing the adverse outcomes associated with long-term opioid use. Pre-operative risk stratification tools may be of use in identifying surgical patients at risk of long-term opioid use. Validated tools are widely used to identify patients at high risk of opioid misuse in the chronic pain setting, but currently there is no optimal method to predict patients at risk of chronic opioid use after surgery.

Existing studies have found that a wide range of patient characteristics and psychiatric comorbidities are associated with long-term opioid use in a post-surgical setting.

There are 5 primary study procedures in the investigators research project:

  1. Enrolment in the study: Subjects will be recruited and enrolled at the pre-operative admission clinic and day surgery unit at St Vincent's Private Hospital, Sydney. This study aims to enrol 1000 patients.
  2. Informed consent: Patients who meet inclusion criteria, and agree to enrol in the study will be asked to read and sign an informed consent document.
  3. Initial questionnaire: Trained nursing staff will administer an initial questionnaire to all patients participating in the study. This questionnaire will gather data regarding potential predictors of delayed opiate cessation including age, sex, operation type, pre-operative opioid use, depression traits, anxiety traits, addictive traits, perceived susceptibility to addiction, average hours of sleep per night, history of chronic pain, and perceived general health.
  4. Follow-up questionnaire: At approximately 90 days post-surgery, a follow-up questionnaire will be administered to all enrolled subjects via phone call or email. This questionnaire will determine current pain scores and details regarding current pain medication usage.
  5. Statistical analysis: Once data collection is complete, identifying details will be removed, and data will be entered into a password-protected electronic database. The investigators will analyse data from all patients and determine the prevalence of delayed opioid cessation, and which questionnaire items independently predict delayed opioid cessation.

The investigators primary study objective is to determine the prevalence of prolonged post-surgical opioid use, defined by our study as patients taking opioids >90 days post-surgery. The investigators secondary objective is to identify patient-related factors that are independently associated with prolonged post-surgical opioid use. These factors may be used to develop a pre-operative screening tool for patients undergoing surgery, in order to assign a level of risk for chronic post-surgical opioid use.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

1013

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Australia
    • New South Wales
      • Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2010
        • St Vincent's Private Hospital, Sydney

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Pre-Admission Clinic, St Vincent's Private Hospital (pre-operative assessment unit) Day Surgery Unit, St Vincent's Private Hospital

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age ≥18 years
  • Able to give written informed consent
  • Willing to participate and comply with the study
  • Scheduled to undergo surgery at St Vincent's Private Hospital, and attending the pre-admission clinic or day surgery unit

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Opioid tolerant patients (patients who are chronically receiving opioid analgesics on a daily basis)
  • Scheduled to undergo surgery relating to malignancy
  • Surgical procedures completed under local anaesthetic
  • Minimally invasive procedures including gastroscopy, colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, cardioversion or transoesophageal echo
  • Patients who were unable to complete study questionnaires due to psychological illness, medical condition or significant language barrier were excluded from the study.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Patients scheduled to undergo surgery
Patients scheduled to undergo surgery at St Vincent's Private Hospital Sydney
Other: Continued use of opioid analgesics >90 days post-surgery
Exposure of interest: continued use of opioid analgesics >90 days post-surgery

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Continued opioid use
Time Frame: 90 days post-surgery
Subjects will be recruited to the study from October 2015 to March 2016, prior to their elective surgical procedure. All subjects will be contacted by investigators at 90 days post-surgery. At this point, they will be asked questions regarding their current analgesic use. This will enable us to calculate the prevalence of continued opioid use at ≥90 days post-surgery. Data collection will be complete by June 2016.
90 days post-surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain scores (score/10)
Time Frame: 90 days post-surgery
Subjects will be recruited to the study from October 2015 to March 2016, prior to their elective surgical procedure. All subjects will be contacted by investigators at 90 days post-surgery. At this point, they will be asked questions regarding their current pain scores out of 10. Data collection will be complete by June 2016.
90 days post-surgery
Presence of pre-operative potential predictors of delayed opioid cessation
Time Frame: 90 days post-surgery

Subjects will be recruited to the study from October 2015 to March 2016, prior to their elective surgical procedure. Subjects will complete a single questionnaire prior to surgery which will collect data including their age, sex, operation type, pre-operative opioid use, depression traits, anxiety traits, addictive traits, perceived susceptibility to addiction, average hours of sleep per night, history of chronic pain, and perceived general health.

The investigators will compare subjects with and without delayed opioid cessation to see which questionnaire items were able to independently predict continued opioid use >90 days post-surgery. Data collection will be complete by June 2016.
90 days post-surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Notre Dame Australia

Collaborators

St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jennifer A Stevens, MBChB, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

October 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 5, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 7, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

October 8, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 10, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 9, 2017

Last Verified

May 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UNDAustralia

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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