TUESDAY, Oct. 10, 2023 (HealthDay News) — For U.S. adolescents, there was a decrease in opioid prescription rates from 2015 to 2020 for nonsurgical indications, but opioid prescription rates associated with surgery remained stable, according to a research report published online Oct. 4 in Pediatric Anesthesia.

Joseph T. Sofia, M.D., from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, and colleagues describe national trends in postsurgical opioid prescription rates over time among 26,909 adolescents aged 10 to 19 years in the United States. Data captured in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2015 to 2020 were included.

Overall, 4.7 percent of adolescents underwent a surgical procedure. Between 2015 and 2020, the surgery rate remained stable (4.3 and 4.4 percent) and was lower among minority populations. The researchers found that among all adolescents, there was a significant decrease in the combined rate of opioid prescribing for surgical and nonsurgical indications (from 4.1 percent in 2015 to 1.4 percent in 2020). However, there was little change in opioid prescribing for surgery (1 percent in 2015 and 0.8 percent in 2020).

“There are increasing data suggesting that opioid prescription postsurgery can lead to problematic opioid use, even in previously opioid-naive patients; however, undertreatment of postsurgical pain is also a significant problem among adolescents,” coauthor Cornelius B. Groenewald, M.B., Ch.B., of Seattle Children’s Hospital, said in a statement. “As surgical procedures are often the first encounter adolescents may have with opioid medications, understanding these prescriptions is important.”

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