• Gabrielle C Donohoe, Bingqing Zhang, Janell L Mensinger, and Ronald S Litman.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Pain Med. 2019 Sep 1; 20 (9): 1789-1795.

ObjectiveTo determine trends in opioid prescribing for home use after pediatric outpatient surgery.DesignRetrospective analysis of a de-identified database.SettingMultispecialty children's hospital and freestanding surgery centers.Patients, ParticipantsA total of 65,190 encounters of pediatric outpatient surgeries from 2013 through 2017 for nine different surgical specialties. Patients in the cardiothoracic service and nonpainful procedures were excluded.MainOutcome Measures. Incidence rate of prescribing, dose, number of doses available (i.e., duration of therapy), and maximum weight-based home opioid availability from 2013 to 2017. Additional independent variables included sex, age, weight, race/ethnicity, insurance type (private vs public), and surgical service.ResultsThe incidence rate of receiving a take-home opioid prescription at discharge ranged from 18% to 21% between 2013 and 2017, with no clear directional trend. Among patients prescribed opioids, however, the maximum available take-home dose steadily declined from 2013 through 2017 (P < 0.001). This was due to both a decrease in the number of doses prescribed (i.e., duration of treatment) and, beginning in 2015, the amount per dose. Females were more likely to receive an opioid than males, and patients with public insurance were more likely to receive an opioid than those with private insurance. Opioid prescribing was more likely in patients who did not disclose their ethnicity and those of ethnic minority compared with white patients (all P < 0.0001).ConclusionsThe rate of receiving a take-home opioid prescription and the dose prescribed remained stable from 2013 to 2017, but the duration of treatment steadily declined, and beginning in 2015, the amount per dose also decreased. Certain subgroups of patients were more likely to be prescribed opioids and will require further investigation and confirmation.© 2019 American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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