Prescription of High-Dose Opioids Among People Living with HIV in British Columbia, Canada

Lost and found, safe and sound: a case report surrounding the stabilization of a medically complex young adult patient with opioid use disorder through an acute wrapround care approach

Background: Hospitalization can be a critical time to stabilize chronically ill patients across levels that transcend medical and social determinants of health. The use of the biopsychosocial model can be instrumental in understanding both medically and psychosocially complex patient cases. An acute inpatient hospitalization provides an opportunity to mediate both intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for both substance use disorder and suicide risk in the context of achieving medical stabilization and crisis mobilization. Case Presentation: Inpatient care of a 22-year-old African American female patient who was chronically ill involved tapping into existing resources within the larger academic hospital inclusive of both adult and pediatric expertise. This patient's care and treatment was multidisciplinary and involved a range of consults that further expanded both the depth and breadth of care and optimized stability from both medical and psychosocial standpoints. In fact, this patient's hospitalization presented a window of opportunity to facilitate a time of transition in chronic disease management and mobilize resources as part of securing wraparound care for her within a one-week timespan. Her care involved the integration of pediatrics (hematology, adolescent medicine), adult medicine (hematology, addiction medicine), and psychiatry. In addition to treating acute symptomology, underlying sources of pain stemming from her opioid use disorder were also alleviated. Furthermore, her care embodied the interface of chronic illness with opioid use, as her reported pain crises were determined to be motivated by intrinsic factors (e.g. poor coping skills from cumulative stressors) supporting her opioid use disorder. Conclusions: The biopsychosocial treatment approach taken for this patient also clearly delineated that physiological and mental health domains are interrelated aspects of chronic pain in chronic illness. Furthermore, this case also emphasized that chronically ill patients are at elevated risk of developing substance use disorders. This case study lends itself nicely to elucidating parity in physiological and mental health domains as crucial elements in promoting health and safety in patient care.

Problematic opioid use among osteoarthritis patients with chronic post-operative pain after joint replacement: analyses from the BISCUITS study

OBJECTIVES

Opioids are commonly used to manage pain, despite an increased risk of adverse events and complications when used against recommendations. This register study uses data of osteoarthritis (OA) patients with joint replacement surgery to identify and characterize problematic opioid use (POU) prescription patterns.

METHODS

The study population included adult patients diagnosed with OA in specialty care undergoing joint replacement surgery in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden during 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2014. Those with cancer or OA within three years before the first eligible OA diagnosis were excluded. Patients were allocated into six POU cohorts based on dose escalation, frequency, and dosing of prescription opioids post-surgery (definitions were based on guidelines, previous literature, and clinical experience), and matched on age and sex to patients with opioid use, but not in any of the six cohorts. Data on demographics, non-OA pain diagnoses, cardiovascular diseases, psychiatric disorders, and clinical characteristics were used to study patient characteristics and predictors of POU.

RESULTS

13.7% of patients with OA and a hip/knee joint replacement were classified as problematic users and they had more comorbidities and higher pre-surgery doses of opioids than matches. Patients dispensing high doses of opioids pre-surgery dispensed increased doses post-surgery, a pattern not seen among patients prescribed lower doses pre-surgery. Being dispensed 1-4,500 oral morphine equivalents in the year pre-surgery or having a non-OA pain diagnosis was associated with post-surgery POU (OR: 1.44-1.50, and 1.11-1.20, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the discovered POU predictors, the study suggests that prescribers should carefully assess pain management strategies for patients with a history of comorbidities and pre-operative, long-term opioid use. Healthcare units should adopt risk assessment tools and ensure that these patients are followed up closely. The data also demonstrate potential areas for further exploration in improving patient outcomes and trajectories.