ANN HARBOUR, Michigan: Researchers at the University of Michigan, Michigan, have recently found that almost half of the opioids prescription to a paediatric group were high risk.
High-risk prescriptions contain a more than recommended dose or included a drug or combination of drugs not recommended for children.
Opioids have been prescribed to those children who had pain from any surgical procedure, dental treatment, etc.
But according to the research, half of these prescriptions are high risk because of their potential for adverse outcomes.
The common types of high-risk opioid prescriptions were acute pain that went beyond three or seven days. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a three-day supply is usually enough for acute pain, and prescriptions of more than seven days are seldom necessary.
“Our study suggests that children and young adults are frequently exposed to unsafe opioid prescriptions,” said lead author Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD, paediatrician and researcher, University of Michigan Health, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
According to the study in Paediatrics, many of these prescribers are dentists or surgeons.
“Many of these prescriptions were likely for dental and surgical procedures that don’t require long durations of opioid therapy,” Chua said.
About one in six prescriptions of children aged 0 to 11 included codeine or tramadol. The United States Food and Drug Administration has warned against these drugs in young children due to reports of fatal overdose. Almost 12% of opioid prescriptions dispensed to adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 21 years were also considered high risk. Another nearly 5% overlapped with benzodiazepines, most commonly prescribed for anxiety, stress and sleep-related disorders.
One of Chua studies found that almost 80% of opioid prescriptions in dentistry for adolescents and young adults are for tooth extraction, for which ibuprofen provides effective relief.
Chua said that avoiding unnecessary opioid prescribing not only decreases the risk of misuse and overdose but lowers the risk of side effects, such as vomiting and constipation, without compromising pain control.
A University of Michigan round pointed out that the top 5% of prescribers in the US account for half of the opioid prescriptions and high-risk prescriptions to children and young adults.
The study Opioid Prescribing to US Children and Young Adults in 2019 was published recently in Pediatrics Official Journal Of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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