Implications of Opioid Prescriptions for Acute Renal Colic in the Emergency Setting on Return Visits and Long-Term Opioid Dependence

Abstract

Introduction:

We sought to examine the practice patterns of pain management in the emergency room (ER) for renal colic and the impact of opioid prescriptions on return ER visits and persistent opioid use.

Methods:

TriNetX is a collaborative research enterprise that collects real-time data from multiple health care organizations within the United States. The Research Network obtains data from electronic medical records and the Diamond Network provides claims data. We queried the Research Network for adults who visited the ER for urolithiasis, stratified by receipt of oral opioid prescriptions, to calculate the risk ratio (RR) of patients returning to the ER within 14 days and persistent opioid use ≥6 months from the initial visit. Propensity score matching was performed to control for confounders. The analysis was repeated in the Diamond Network as a validation cohort.

Results:

There were 255,447 patients in the research network who visited the ER for urolithiasis, of whom 75,405 (29.5%) were prescribed oral opioids. Black patients were less likely to receive opioid prescriptions than other races (p < 0.001). After propensity score matching, patients who were prescribed opioids had an increased risk of a return ER visit (RR 1.25, confidence interval [95% CI] 1.22–1.29, p < 0.001) and persistent opioid use (RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.11–1.14, p < 0.001) compared with patients who were not prescribed opioids. These findings were confirmed in the validation cohort.

Conclusions:

A significant proportion of patients presenting to the ER for urolithiasis receive opioid prescriptions, which carries a markedly increased risk of return ER visits and long-term opioid use.