Study: Long-term opioid use by one or more family members was associated to persistent opioid use by adolescents prescribed opioids after common surgical and dental procedures.

Link: https://labblog.uofmhealth.org/lab-report/opioid-use-family-may-influence-adolescents-opioid-risk-after-surgery

Excerpt:

Having a family member with persistent opioid use may be a risk factor for young adults continuing prescriptions long after their own surgeries, a new Michigan Medicine study suggests.

The presence of one or more family members using long-term opioids before a procedure was associated with a higher likelihood that adolescents prescribed opioids for the first time would do the same, according to the findings. The research, led by surgery and pediatric teams at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, appeared in JAMA Surgery.

“We know from previous research that adolescents and young adults undergoing dental and other common surgical procedures are at risk of persistent opioid use after their first opioid prescription,” says senior author Jennifer Waljee, M.D., Michigan Medicine and Mott surgeon and member of the Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network (Michigan-OPEN) at the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.