Opioid-Prescribing Patterns of Emergency Physicians and Risk of Long-Term Use

In this analysis involving Medicare patients seen in emergency departments, rates of opioid prescribing varied widely among emergency physicians. Patients seen by physicians who prescribed opioids more frequently were more likely to use opioids on a long-term basis. Rates of opioid prescribing and opioid-related overdose deaths have quadrupled in the United States over the past three decades. 1 – 3 This epidemic has increasingly affected the elderly Medicare population, among whom rates of hospitalization for opioid overdoses quintupled from 1993 through 2012. 4 – 6 The risks of opioid use are particularly pronounced among the elderly, who are vulnerable to their sedating side effects, even at therapeutic doses. 7 Multiple studies have shown increased rates of falls, fractures, and death from any cause associated with opioid use in this population. 8 – 11 Even short-term opioid use may confer a predisposition to these side effects . . .