Correlations of Opioid Intake During Different Predischarge Time Frames with Postdischarge Opioid Use Following Inpatient Surgery

Previous work has shown that predischarge opioid use is the most reliable and practical predictor of postdischarge opioid intake after inpatient surgery. However, the most appropriate predischarge time frame for operationalizing this relationship into more individualized prescriptions is unknown. We compared the correlations between the quantity of opioids taken during 5 predischarge time frames and self-reported postdischarge opioid intake in 604 adult surgery patients. We found that the 24-hour predischarge time frame was most strongly correlated (rho= 0.60, P < .001) with postdischarge opioid use and may provide actionable information for predicting opioid use after discharge.