Opioid-centric pain management strategies have created an epidemic of prescription opioid abuse.
Opioids are known to relieve pain after surgical operations like
surgery of ankle fractures. However, the patients get addictive to opioid use.
This study establishes that there exists no association between opioid intake
and disability after surgical management of ankle fractures.
Opioid-centric pain management strategies have created an
epidemic of prescription opioid abuse. This study assesses whether opioid
intake is associated with disability, satisfaction with treatment, and pain at
the time of suture removal and at 5 to 8 months after suture removal following
open reduction and internal fixation of ankle fractures.
About 02 adult patients were enrolled in the study at the
time of suture removal, 59 of whom were available for follow-up at 5 to 8
months. At the time of suture removal, we recorded opioid use; trauma-related
factors; and scores on measures of disability, pain, and treatment
satisfaction. Patients who were available for follow-up completed the
disability, pain, and treatment satisfaction measures at 5 to 8 months and
their opioid use at that time was recorded.
No association was found between opioid intake and
disability at the time of suture removal. No association was found between
opioid intake and satisfaction with treatment or satisfaction with pain
management at the time of suture removal. At 5 to 8 months after suture
removal, no variables were associated with opioid intake. The psychologic
measures of pain anxiety and catastrophic thinking were the factors most
consistently associated with disability, treatment satisfaction, satisfaction
with pain management, pain at rest, and pain with activity at both of the time
points.
Patients with ankle fractures may be able to use fewer
opioids than are currently prescribed and experience levels of disability and
treatment satisfaction comparable with those of patients who take greater amounts
of opioids, independent of injury characteristics.
Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons
Association between opioid intake and disability after surgical management of ankle fractures
Finger Abigail et al.
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