Planning surgery? Talking to your doctor about pain management beforehand could keep you off the path to long-term opioid use, a risk factor for addiction. If the operation is of the spine, head, or neck, that goes double for you. People who have these procedures are among the most likely to get “new persistent opioid use,” or NPOU, according to a new study from Austria. Other surgeries with higher NPOU rates included knee replacement and removal of part or all of the colon. The findings, published this month in JAMA Network Open, align with previous research in the U.S. But this latest study is notable because Austrian doctors are considered less liberal in prescribing opioids than American ones are, and also because Austria has public health insurance. Among the efforts to curb the U.S. opioid epidemic is a focus on reducing opioid prescribing. Dr. Mark Bicket speaks with WebMD about pain management.
