Letter re: “Opioid Use, Disposition, and Parent Satisfaction Following Common Pediatric Surgical Procedures”

To the Editor: We applaud the efforts of Parrado et al to shine a light on their important observations regarding opioid prescriptions after common surgical procedures among pediatric patients. 1 They found that the proportion of postoperative opioid prescriptions ranged between 66.7% and 100.0% of patients following relatively common operations such as umbilical and inguinal hernia repairs, as well as appendectomies. In this regard, Parrado et al also reported that about 20% of patients and their parents did perceive the level of postoperative pain management as excessive. 1 This leads to an additional challenge, as the authors noted that most patients used only a fraction of the large quantities of prescribed opioid, with the remaining pills being kept somewhere in the house, opening the possibility of dangerous opioid misuse, accidental overdose, and medication diversion. The study by Parrado et al highlights the perceived excess level of postoperative pain management and its subsequent impact on unadvised disposal or storage of the remaining opioids in great detail.