Opioid Use and Pain Control After Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty in the US, 2014 to 2017

Potential overprescribing of opioids after surgery may contribute to opioid-related adverse events.^1,2 The proportion of opioid-naive patients with a new opioid prescription within 7 days after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) increased from 79.1% in 2004 to 82.0% in 2012.³ The US Drug Enforcement Administration in 2014,⁴ the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016,⁵ and health systems, state governments, and health payers all implemented myriad policies to restrict opioid overprescribing. The impact of these policies on postoperative opioid prescribing is unknown. We examined rates of opioid prescribing and level of pain control in patients who underwent total hip arthroplasty (THA) and TKA from 2014 to 2017.