A new study of pregnant Medicaid patients in Pennsylvania found that 12% filled prescriptions for opioids within 5 days of vaginal delivery, even though fewer than one-third of the women had pain-inducing conditions.
“Our study raises the question: Why is outpatient opioid use not rare after vaginal delivery?” lead author Marian Jarlenski, PhD, MPH, said in an interview. “Outpatient opioid prescriptions after a hospitalization may be one potential pathway to opioid use disorder. I hope the study will prompt some thought about why opioids are being prescribed for women after vaginal delivery and how to best manage postdelivery pain. This is especially important in areas of the country that have extraordinarily high rates of opioid use disorder.”
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A total of 12% of the women (18,131) filled an outpatient prescription for an opioid with 5 days of giving birth. Of those, just 28.2% (5,110) had one or more conditions that cause an increased level of pain after delivery, such as bilateral tubal ligation, certain kinds of lacerations, and episiotomy.
During the first 5 days after birth, the most commonly prescribed opioid was oxycodone-acetaminophen (53.3%), followed by acetaminophen-codeine (20.5%), and hydrocodone-acetaminophen (19.6%).
Of the 18,131 women with an early postdelivery opioid prescription, 14% (2,592) filled at least one other opioid prescription within 6-60 days – that’s 1.6% of all the women in the study.
“On a positive note, we saw the supply of opioid prescriptions was generally short at 3-7 days,” Dr. Jarlenski said.
The researchers linked tobacco use and a mental health condition (both adjusted odds ratio 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-1.4) to a higher risk of filling a prescription without being diagnosed with a pain-causing disorder. They also found an association between substance use disorder (not related to opioids) and a higher risk of these types of prescriptions, but only for filling a second opioid prescription in the 6-60 day period (aOR 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.6).
The researchers called for national guidelines regarding the use of opioids after birth.
“Several organizations have developed opioid prescribing guidelines for chronic and acute pain,” Dr. Jarlenski said. “These guidelines are necessary because the risk of opioid use disorder and subsequent overdose events is well established. Although delivery is the most common reason for hospitalization in the United States, there are no national guidelines for outpatient opioid use after vaginal delivery.”
The study was partially supported by the University of Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health Program, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The researchers reported having no relevant financial disclosures.