Opioid Prescribing Trends After Guidelines

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

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Opioid prescribing decreased by 7.44% immediately after the 2021 guidelines, continuing to decline by 0.20% every 3 months.
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Nonopioid prescribing increased by 3.73% immediately following the guidelines, with a continued rise of 0.12% every 3 months.
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Overall, 46% of patients received opioids post-parotidectomy, while 7% received only nonopioids, and 47% received no opioids.
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The study utilized deidentified electronic health record data and interrupted time series analysis to assess prescribing trends.
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Limitations included inability to capture over-the-counter medication use and potential bias from electronic health record coding.

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