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. 2021 Sep 6;13(6):21925682211041968.
doi: 10.1177/21925682211041968. Online ahead of print.

Predictors of Prolonged Opioid Use After Lumbar Fusion and the Effects of Opioid Use on Patient-Reported Outcome Measures

Jose A Canseco  1 , Michael Chang  1 , Brian A Karamian  1 , Jennifer Z Mao  1 , Ariana A Reyes  1 , John Mangan  1 , Srikanth N Divi  1 , Dhruv Kc Goyal  1 , Harold I Salmons  1 , Nicolas Dohse  1 , Noah Levy  1 , Maxwell Detweiler  1 , D Greg Anderson  1 , Jeffrey A Rihn  1 , Mark F Kurd  1 , Alan S Hilibrand  1 , Christopher K Kepler  1 , Alexander R Vaccaro  1 , Gregory D Schroeder  1
Affiliations

Predictors of Prolonged Opioid Use After Lumbar Fusion and the Effects of Opioid Use on Patient-Reported Outcome Measures

Jose A Canseco et al. Global Spine J. .

Abstract

Study design: Retrospective case series.

Objective: To determine risk factors associated with prolonged opioid use after lumbar fusion and to elucidate the effect of opioid use on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) after surgery.

Methods: Patients who underwent 1-3 level lumbar decompression and fusion with at least one-year follow-up were identified. Opioid data were collected through the Pennsylvania Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Preoperative "chronic use" was defined as consumption of >90 days in the one-year before surgery. Postoperative "prolonged use" was defined as a filled prescription 90-days after surgery. PROMs included the following: Short Form-12 Health Survey PCS-12 and MCS-12, ODI, and VAS-Back and Leg scores. Logistic regression was performed to determine independent predictors for prolonged opioid use.

Results: The final analysis included 260 patients. BMI >35 (OR: .44 [.20, .90], P = .03) and current smoking status (OR: 2.73 [1.14, 6.96], P = .03) significantly predicted postoperative opioid usage. Chronic opioid use before surgery was associated with greater improvements in MCS-12 (β= 5.26 [1.01, 9.56], P = .02). Patients with prolonged opioid use self-reported worse VAS-Back (3.4 vs 2.1, P = .003) and VAS-Leg (2.6 vs 1.2, P = .03) scores after surgery. Prolonged opioid use was associated with decreased improvement in VAS-Leg over time (β = .14 [.15, 1.85], P = .02).

Conclusions: Current smoking status and lower BMI were significantly predictive of prolonged opioid use. Excess opioid use before and after surgery significantly affected PROMs after lumbar fusion.

Keywords: lumbar fusion; opioids; patient reported outcome measures.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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