Opioid Prescribing Trends After Guidelines

Large US data set tracks postoperative analgesic use over a decade.

By
Kathryn Wighton
March 27, 2026
2 min

Conexiant

Objective:

To evaluate the impact of the 2021 clinical practice guidelines on opioid and nonopioid prescribing trends among patients undergoing parotidectomy.

Approach:

Key Findings:

Opioid prescribing decreased by 7.44% immediately after guideline publication and continued to decline by 0.20% every 3 months.
Nonopioid prescribing increased by 3.73% immediately and continued to rise by 0.12% every 3 months.
46% of patients were prescribed opioids postoperatively, while 7% received only nonopioid medications.

Interpretation:

The study indicates a significant shift in prescribing practices following the release of the guidelines, with a sustained reduction in opioid prescriptions and an increase in nonopioid alternatives.

Limitations:

Inability to capture over-the-counter medication use.
Lack of data on dosage, duration, or total opioid consumption.
Potential bias from electronic health record coding.
Study design does not establish a causal relationship between guideline publication and prescribing patterns.