Opioids for acute pain: How much is too much?

Two recent articles have again highlighted how often opioid pain relievers — medications like oxycodone and hydrocodone — are excessively prescribed in the US for acute pain, sometimes for vulnerable populations and sometimes for conditions for which they are probably not even indicated. The first paper, by authors at Boston Children’s Hospital, evaluated visits to the emergency department by adolescents and young adults (ages 13 to 22) over an 11-year period from a nationwide sample. About 15% of patients — roughly one in six — were prescribed an opioid, with high rates seen for ankle sprains, hand fractures, collarbone fractures, and particularly dental issues, for which an incredibly high 60% of patients in this age group received an opioid. Speaking of dental issues, the second paper compared opioid

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