Trauma Patients Not to Blame for Opioid Epidemic: Study

med news


WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19, 2016 -- Patients who survived major trauma may not be a significant factor in the U.S. opioid epidemic, a new study suggests.
Almost 75 percent of major trauma patients who were prescribed narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin and Percocet had stopped using them a month after leaving the hospital. And only 1 percent were still taking the drugs on a prescription basis a year later, researchers found....

Many officials attribute some of this abuse to overprescribing practices, arguing that use of legitimate pain pills frequently leads to addiction.
However, "our findings in patients who sustain traumatic injury contradict the popular narrative about the role that appropriate use of opioids may play in the rate of opioid abuse in this country," Schoenfeld said.

 
 The report was scheduled for presentation Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American College of Surgeons in Washington, D.C. Data and conclusions presented at meetings are generally considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.