Some patients with high-grade glioma (HGG) who are prescribed opioids after surgery continue to take the drugs beyond the perioperative setting, according to a study presented in a poster at the Society for Neuro-Oncology 27th Annual Meeting.
In this single-center study, 31% of HGG patients continued to take opioids in the adjuvant treatment setting. Predictors for continued opioid use included a history of opioid use, other substance use, and a pain syndrome and/or fibromyalgia.
To evaluate opioid use patterns in the setting of surgical interventions for HGG, researchers reviewed patient records from January 2016 to January 2020 at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Continue Reading
The study included 163 patients with a mean age of 63.47 years. Most patients were men (59.51%). Few patients had a history of opioid use (7.45%), but a majority had a history of using any substance (63.58%). Most patients had a non-headache pain diagnosis (79.31%), and a minority had a pain syndrome and/or fibromyalgia (23.13%).
The largest perioperative opioid prescription doses were dispensed to patients with a history of other substance use (mean, 151.81 morphine equivalent dose [MED]), patients with non-headache pain diagnoses (mean, 131.76 MED), and patients with a pain syndrome and/or fibromyalgia (mean, 120.1 MED).
The smallest perioperative opioid doses were dispensed to women (mean, 28.64 MED), patients who had no history of substance use (mean, 54.21 MED), and patients without a pain syndrome and/or fibromyalgia (mean, 61.21 MED).
In a regression analysis, only sex was a significant predictor for perioperative opioid dose (β, 1.30; P <.001).
During adjuvant treatment, 31% of patients continued to use opioids. The median dose was 45 MED, and the median duration was 65.5 days.
Predictors for continued opioid use in the adjuvant setting included a history of other substance use (β, 35.29; P <.001), a history of opioid use (β, 26.52; P =.02), and a history of pain syndrome and/or fibromyalgia (β, 17.55; P =.04).
These findings suggest opportunities for improvement in post-operative opioid management, according to the researchers.
Disclosures: The study authors did not provide disclosures.
Reference
Deleyrolle P, Dagra A, Mohamed S, et al. Opiate utilization and predictive factors in patients undergoing surgery for gliomas. Presented at SNO 2022; November 16-20, 2022. Abstract QOL-05.
