Yonsei University Reports Findings in Opioids (Effect of Opioids on All-cause Mortality and Sustained Opioid Use in Elderly Patients with Hip Fracture: a Korea Nationwide Cohort Study)

South Korea Daily Report

2021 MAY 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at South Korea Daily Report -- New research on Opioids is the subject of a report. According to news originating from Seoul, South Korea, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The purpose of our study was to assess the use of opioids before and after hip fracture in elderly patients in order to determine the effect of opioid use on all-cause mortality, and to analyze how the history of opioid use before fracture increases the risk of sustained use following hip fracture using a Korea nationwide cohort. Our study identified hip fracture patients from the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Senior cohort.”

Financial support for this research came from Korean National Health Insurance Service.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Yonsei University, “The index date was defined as 90-days after admission to the acute care hospital that fulfilled the eligibility criteria of elderly hip fracture. Patients were classified into past user, current user, and sustained user according to the use of opioid at each period based on the time of admission and index date. The opioids were classified into strong opioids and tramadol. A generalized estimating equation model with a Poisson distribution and logarithmic link function was performed to estimate the adjusted rate ratios (aRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the association between past use and sustained use. A multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard model was used to investigate the effects of strong opioid and tramadol use on all-cause mortality. A total of 12,927 patients were included in our study. There were 7,384 (57.12%) opioid past-users, 11,467 (88.71%) opioid current-users, and 7,172 (55.48%) sustained users. In comparison of the death risk according to current use or the defined daily dose of the opioids or past opioid use, there were no significant differences in the adjusted hazard ratio for death in all groups, compared to the current non-users (> 0.05). Among survivors 1 year after hip fracture, opioid past-use increased the risk of opioid sustained use by 1.52-fold (aRR; 95% CI, 1.45-1.8; < 0.001). Current use and past use of opioid did not increase all-cause mortality after hip fracture in elderly patients over 65 years of age.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Past use of opioid before hip fracture increased risk of sustained use of opioid compared to the current opioid used without past use.”

For more information on this research see: Effect of Opioids on All-cause Mortality and Sustained Opioid Use in Elderly Patients with Hip Fracture: a Korea Nationwide Cohort Study. Journal of Korean Medical Science, 2021;36(19). Journal of Korean Medical Science can be contacted at: Korean Acad Medical Sciences, 302 75 Dong Du Ichon, Dong Yongsan Ku, Seoul 140 031, South Korea.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Suk Yong Jang, Dept. of Healthcare Management, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include Jun Il Yoo, Yonghan Cha, Chan Ho Park, Jung Taek Kim, Seunghak Oh and Wonsik Choy.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e127. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher’s contact information for the Journal of Korean Medical Science is: Korean Acad Medical Sciences, 302 75 Dong Du Ichon, Dong Yongsan Ku, Seoul 140 031, South Korea.

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