Session Information
Date: Saturday, November 16, 2019
Session Title: Section Info: Annual Assembly Posters (Non Presentations)
Session Time: 11:15am-12:45pm
Location: Research Hub - Kiosk 8
Disclosures: Robin Raju, MD: Nothing to disclose
Objective: To examine the concomitant use of opioids and benzodiazepines in the outpatient setting.
Design: Retrospective study.
Setting: Academic outpatient multispecialty practice.
Participants: Over 2000 outpatient clinic visits from January 2018 to April 2018 among 4 Physiatrists were analyzed.
Interventions: All patients were reviewed in the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) website to identify if they have filled either opioid or benzodiazepine prescription(s) in the last 12 months.
Main Outcome Measures: Number of opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions, discrepancies in reporting of medications, providers prescribing medications, and cigarette/alcohol use.
Results: 353 patients were identified to have filled either opioid or benzodiazepine prescription(s) in the last 12 months. 49.4% of patients prescribed opioids were found to be on benzodiazepines concurrently. Reporting discrepancies were noted between the outpatient electronic medical record and PDMP in 17.2% of patients. Among patients on both opioids and benzodiazepines, 38.9% had multiple providers prescribing these medications, 41.9% were over 65 years old, and 11.9% were daily cigarette/alcohol users. Patients on both types of drugs (opioids and benzodiazepines) were significantly more likely to use different providers (38.9%) compared to patients on one type of drug (9.8%, P<.001). The former group was also noted to fill significantly more prescriptions than the latter group (P<.001).
Conclusions: The study results emphasize clinicians may not be aware that some of their patients are concurrently taking both opioids and benzodiazepines, hence highlights the importance of routinely checking the PDMP and utilizing that information to make fully informed decisions regarding the safest possible way to prescribe these controlled substances.
Level of Evidence: Level III
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Raju R, Gehret J, Stolzenberg D, Teng J, Paskey T. Concomitant Use of Opioids and Benzodiazepines in the Outpatient Setting: A Retrospective Study [abstract]. PM R. 2019; 11(S2)(suppl 2). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/concomitant-use-of-opioids-and-benzodiazepines-in-the-outpatient-setting-a-retrospective-study/. Accessed September 7, 2024.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2019
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/concomitant-use-of-opioids-and-benzodiazepines-in-the-outpatient-setting-a-retrospective-study/