Patients with low back or lower extremity pain had the highest risk of long-term opiate use if they were initially diagnosed by a pain management specialist or anesthesia provider, according to a study in Spine.
Four things to know:
1. The study authors identified 478,981 opiate-naïve patients who were newly diagnosed in 2010. Of these patients, 40.4 percent received an opiate prescription within one-year of diagnosis, and 4 percent met criteria for long-term use.
2. The most common initial provider type was family practice, which was associated with a 24.4 percent risk of early opiate prescription and a 2 percent risk of long-term opiate use.
3. Nearly half — 43.1 percent — of patients who were initially diagnosed by emergency medicine practitioners received an early opiate prescription, and 40.8 percent of patients initially diagnosed at an urgent care facility received an early prescription.
4. The risk of long-term opiate use was highest among patients initially diagnosed by pain management or anesthesia providers — 6.7 percent — or physician medicine and rehabilitation providers — 3.4 percent.