Researchers found pain medication use increases in the year before hip-replacement surgery, with an increase immediately after surgery, followed by a long-term decrease, according to Medical Xpress.
Researchers used Norwegian national joint replacement and prescription databases to analyze medication use by nearly 40,000 patients undergoing total hip arthoplasty from 2005 to 2011. The patients' average age was 68.5 years, about 75 percent underwent THA because of primary osteoarthritis.
For two years, researchers analyzed trends in prescription drugs including analgesics, hypnotics and drugs to treat anxiety and depression.
Here are five highlights from the study:
1. In the year before surgery, nearly half of patients filled a prescription for some analgesic. The analgesics included NSAIDs (38 percent), opioids (16 percent) and other non-opioid analgesics (12 percent).
2. Patients' use of pain medication increased during the last quarter before THA, and also increased in the first quarter after surgery. For opioid use, patient use increased to 28 percent in the last quarter before THA, then to 65 percent in the first quarter afterward. Non-opioid analgesic use increased to 21 percent and then to 60.5 percent.
3. Patients who filled prescriptions for hypnotic drugs rose from the quarter before to the quarter after surgery from 14 percent to 25 percent.
4. One year after THA, opioid use decreased to 14 percent and NSAID use to 18 percent.
5. Non-opioid analgesic use fell to 13 percent one year after THA. Researchers found minimal or no change in antidepressant use.
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