New Zealand’s healthcare providers are over-prescribing opioids to patients post-surgery, potentially fuelling addiction, a new study has found.
The student-led Tasman Collaborative’s study, 'Opioid prescriptions and usage after surgery' (Operas), found opioids are being prescribed at twice the amount being consumed by patients in the week following surgery. Although the surplus did not improve pain management, it did increase the risk of side effects and dependency, they said.
The results of the study showed the quantity of opioids prescribed to patients at discharge from Middlemore and Whangarei Hospitals to be independently linked with a 30% increase in opioid consumption, said Dr Chris Varghese, an Auckland University honorary lecturer and junior doctor at Middlemore. The study’s 1,311 patients underwent 19 common surgeries and were prescribed a median of 10 tablets of 10mg Sevredol (morphine sulfate). Seven days after surgery, a median of just four tablets had been consumed. Dr Varghese said the 19 surgeries did not include ophthalmological surgery.
In 2021, 46 of New Zealand’s 171 drug deaths were thought to be from opioid overdose, reported the New Zealand Drug Foundation. Dr Varghese told The New Zealand Herald the over-prescription of opioids is not a problem isolated to the US, it’s an issue in Aotearoa too.
Heading for a US-style opioid epidemic?
