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Study: Risk For Opioid Abuse Increases Following Surgery

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Chronic use of prescription pain medications known as opioids is increasing at an alarming rate in the United States.

As CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported, a new study looks at who is at risk for opioid addiction.

Each day thousands of surgeries are performed across the United States.

"It's pretty normal to get a pain-killer after you, after you go home from your surgery, and during your surgery," Dr. Eric Sun, Stanford University School of Medicine said.

What isn't normal is to still be taking those pain medications months after surgery.

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine wanted to see if post-op pain meds may be the risk factor that starts people on the road to chronic use or even abuse.

They reviewed the records of more than 641 patients who were not taking pain medication during the year prior to surgery. They had one of eleven common operations including joint replacements, gall bladder removal, and c-sections.

"Patients who didn't use opiods prior to surgery were at an increased risk for chronic opioid use following their surgery. The risk range from about one and a half to five times, depending on the surgery. Overall, the risk is pretty low. It was about less than one percent for most of the surgeries we looked at," Dr. Sun said.

Men and older patients were at an increased risk of chronic opioid use along with patients with a history of certain medical conditions.

Chronic use was defined as filling at least 10 prescriptions or more than 120 days worth of opioids during the first year after surgery.

The study in JAMA, Internal Medicine also identified others at higher risk for abuse.

"Patients who use beonzopadiazepines, that's a fairly common drug people use for anxieties and also patients with a history of drug abuse and alcohol abuse are at high risk for chronic opioid use following their surgery," Dr. Sun said.

Researchers said the overall risk of addiction from the painkillers is still small, but that doctors should be aware of the risk, and keep an eye on a patient's opioid use after surgery, especially they're in one of the higher groups.

Study authors said more research is needed to better manage the pain patients experience after surgery.

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