Opioid Use Disorder in Patients Undergoing Primary 1- to 2-Level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Is Associated With Longer In-Hospital Lengths of Stay and Higher Rates of Readmissions, Complications, and Costs of Care.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether opioid use disorder (OUD) patients undergoing 1- to 2-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (1-2ACDF) have higher rates of: 1) in-hospital lengths of stay (LOS); 2) readmissions; 3) complications; and 4) costs.

METHODS

OUD patients undergoing primary 1-2ACDF were identified within the Medicare database and matched to a control cohort in a 1:5 ratio by age, sex, and medical comorbidities. The query yielded 80,683 patients who underwent 1-2 ACDF with (n = 13,448) and without (n = 67,235) OUD. Outcomes analyzed included in-hospital LOS, 90-day readmission rates, 90-day medical complications, and costs. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds-ratios (OR) for medical complications and readmissions. Welch's -test was used to test for significance for LOS and cost between the cohorts. An alpha value less than 0.002 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

OUD patients were found to have significantly longer in-hospital LOS compared to their counterparts (3.41 vs. 2.23-days, .0001), in addition to higher frequency and odds of requiring readmissions (21.62 vs. 11.57%; OR: 1.38, .0001). Study group patients were found to have higher frequency and odds of developing medical complications (0.88 vs. 0.19%, OR: 2.80, < .0001) and incurred higher episode of care costs ($20,399.62 vs. $16,812.14, .0001).

CONCLUSION

The study can help to push orthopaedic surgeons in better managing OUD patients pre-operatively in terms of safe discontinuation and education of opioid drugs and their effects on complications, leading to more satisfactory outcomes.