Opioids are commonly prescribed to treat patients suffering from painful knee arthritis. However, the opioid epidemic in the United States constitutes a major public health concern. This study aims to characterize the effect of preoperative opioid use on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
PROMs collected from patients undergoing TKA were reviewed. We identified two matched cohorts: (1) 30 patients who used opioids preoperatively and (2) 137 patients who did not use opioids preoperatively. The non-opioid cohort was carefully selected to match the opioid cohort. Statistical analyses were performed to determine the difference in demographics, PROMs, length of stay, disposition and co-morbidities between the two cohorts.
The non-opioid users had significant improvement in both EuroQol5D (EQ-5D) PROMs and visual analogy scale (VAS) scores postoperatively (p < 0.001); however, preoperative opioid users did not show improvement in either measure. University of California Los Angles (UCLA) scores were significantly improved for both non-opioid users (p < 0.001) and opioid users (p < 0.001). Non-opioid users had higher preoperative EQ-5D scores than opioid users (p = 0.02). There was no difference in range of motion, length of stay, or disposition between cohorts.
Our results demonstrated that TKA patients with preoperative opioid use had significantly lower VAS scores and trends of lower UCLA and EQ-5D scores postoperatively compared to non-opioid patients, suggesting the use of opioid medications prior to TKA negatively affects patient reported outcomes following surgery. The current findings provide useful clinical information that can be used in counseling patients prior to undergoing TKA.