Publications

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between impaired arousal on admission and 30-day mortality in acutely ill older adults.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Patients age +65 years admitted to the geriatric ward of a tertiary university hospital from 2010 to 2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

METHODS

Participants were evaluated on admission according to a standardized comprehensive geriatric assessment model. Delirium was detected using the short version of the Confusion Assessment Method (Short-CAM). We used 2 alternative criteria to define impaired arousal: lethargy, stupor, or coma according to the Short-CAM; and a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of ≤13. Our primary outcome was time-to-death in 30 days, and we used Cox proportional hazards models to explore the association between impaired arousal and decreased survival.

RESULTS

We included 1554 admissions with a mean age of 81 years and of whom 61% were women. Overall, prevalent delirium was observed in 28% of the cases. We found that in 33% of admissions, patients were lethargic, stuporous, or comatose, and that in 23%, they had GCS scores of ≤13. General 30-day mortality was 19% but reached 32% in patients with GCS scores of ≤13. Impaired arousal was independently associated with lower survival in 30 days, both when defined using Short-CAM criteria [lethargy + stupor + coma: hazard ratio (HR) 2.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.66‒3.27] and GCS scores (GCS 12‒13: HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.13‒2.33; GCS ≤ 11: HR 2.53, 95% CI 1.68‒3.80). In interaction analyses, we confirmed our results in patients who had impaired arousal but were neither delirious (lethargy + stupor + coma: HR 2.16, 95% CI 1.44‒3.24; GCS ≤ 11: HR 3.07; 95% CI 1.50‒6.29) nor demented (lethargy + stupor + coma: HR 1.95, 95% CI 1.15‒3.28).

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Level of arousal on admission was an independent predictor of 30-day survival in acutely ill older adults, regardless of delirium or baseline dementia. Clinicians should be aware that even if unsure of whether a patient has delirium, arousal assessment can provide crucial clinical and prognostic insight.

Opioids are routinely prescribed to manage acute postoperative pain, but changes in postoperative opioid prescribing associated with the marketing of long-acting opioids such as OxyContin have not been described in the surgical cohort.

Methods

Using a large commercial claims data set, we studied postoperative opioid prescribing after selected common surgical procedures between 1994 and 2014. For each procedure and year, we calculated the mean postoperative morphine milligram equivalents (MME) filled on the index prescription and assessed the proportion of patients who filled a high-dose prescription (≥350 MME). We reported changes in postoperative opioid prescribing over time and identified predictors of filling a high-dose postoperative opioid prescription.

Results

We identified 1,321,264 adult patients undergoing selected common surgical procedures between 1994 and 2014, of whom 80.3% filled a postoperative opioid prescription. One in five surgery patients filled a high-dose postoperative opioid prescription. Between 1994 and 2014, the mean MME filled increased by 145%, 84%, and 85% for lumbar laminectomy/laminotomy, total knee arthroplasty, and total hip arthroplasty, respectively. The procedures most likely to be associated with a high-dose opioid fill were all orthopaedic procedures (AOR 5.20 to 7.55, < 0.001 for all). Patients whose postoperative opioid prescription included a long-acting formulation had the highest odds of filling a prescription that exceeded 350 MME (AOR 32.01, 95% CI, 30.23-33.90).

Discussion

After the US introduction of long-acting opioids such as OxyContin, postoperative opioid prescribing in commercially insured patients increased in parallel with broader US opioid-prescribing trends, most notably among patients undergoing orthopaedic surgical procedures. The increase in the mean annual MME filled starting in the late 1990s was driven in part by the higher proportion of long-acting opioid formulations on the index postoperative opioid prescription filled by orthopaedic surgery patients.