Opioid use, cost of care after hip arthroscopy not linked with prior cannabis use
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Published results showed no significant differences in postoperative opioid use or cost of episode of care between patients who did and those who did not report cannabis use prior to hip arthroscopy.
“Cannabis is increasing in most, if not all, demographics, particularly with recent legalization of use in many places in North America. While there is a great deal of data on the influence of substances, such as nicotine, there is little data on the influence of cannabis on surgical outcomes or cost,” Christopher L. McCrum, MD, told Healio. “Furthermore, there is a great deal of misinformation and misperceptions on cannabis being a ‘gateway’ drug, but little data in the orthopedic population to support a relationship between cannabis use and opioid medication prescriptions after surgery.”
Using the PearlDiver database, McCrum and colleagues compared opioid use during the episode of care and 30-day costs between 300 patients who underwent hip arthroscopy with reported cannabis use prior to surgery and 300 patients who underwent hip arthroscopy without reported cannabis use. Researchers matched groups by age, procedure, gender, Charlson Comorbidity Index, Elixhauser Comorbidity Index, obesity, tobacco use and diabetes.
Of the 174 patients with cannabis use and 171 patients without cannabis use who had full financial and opioid use data available for analysis, results showed no significant differences in prescription opioid use during the episode of care between the two groups. Researchers also found no significant differences in episode of care reimbursement cost following hip arthroscopy between patients who did and those who did not report cannabis use prior to surgery. Researchers noted fewer than 11 incidents of any complication within 30 or 90 days of hip arthroscopy between patients with and those without perioperative cannabis use disorder.
“In the large database that we evaluated, we found that following hip arthroscopy, patients with reported cannabis use did not differ in the amount of opioids prescribed, nor was the cost of the episode of care any different than those without reported cannabis use,” McCrum said. “We hope these data can serve as the basis for ongoing investigations on the impact of cannabis on outcomes in sports medicine and orthopedic surgery.”
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