Table 1.
Characteristics of dispensed opioid prescriptions from U.S. surgeons in 2019, overall and among prescriptions written by high-volume and other surgeons
| All prescriptions | Prescriptions from high-volume surgeons |
Prescriptions from other prescribers |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| N=15,493,018 | N=5,184,378 | N=10,308,640 | |
| Patient age group (years) | No. (%) | No. (%) | No. (%) |
| 12-17 | 315,027 (2.0) | 69,049 (1.3) | 245,978 (2.4) |
| 18-34 | 1,994,357 (12.9) | 465,128 (9.0) | 1,529,229 (14.8) |
| 35-44 | 2,030,124 (13.1) | 579,123 (11.2) | 1,451,001 (14.1) |
| 45-54 | 2,767,684 (17.9) | 954,120 (18.4) | 1,813,564 (17.6) |
| 55-64 | 3,762,039 (24.3) | 1,423,307 (27.5) | 2,338,732 (22.7) |
| 65 and older | 4,623,787 (29.8) | 1,693,651 (32.7) | 2,930,136 (28.4) |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 7,040,729 (45.4) | 2,288,591 (44.1) | 4,752,138 (46.1) |
| Female | 8,436,017 (54.5) | 2,892,581 (55.8) | 5,543,436 (53.8) |
| Unknown/missing | 16,272 (0.1) | 3,206 (0.1) | 13,066 (0.1) |
| Region of patient residence | |||
| Northeast | 1,748,148 (11.3) | 300,923 (5.8) | 1,447,225 (14.0) |
| Midwest | 3,259,817 (21.0) | 983,641 (19.0) | 2,276,176 (22.1) |
| South | 7,660,679 (49.4) | 3,278,304 (63.2) | 4,382,375 (42.5) |
| West | 2,824,374 (18.2) | 621,510 (12.0) | 2,202,864 (21.4) |
| Urban/rural patient residence | |||
| Urban | 10,927,476 (70.5) | 3,525,449 (68.0) | 7,402,027 (71.8) |
| Rural | 4,565,468 (29.5) | 1,658,917 (32.0) | 2,906,551 (28.2) |
| Unknown/missing | 74 (0.0) | 12 (0.0) | 62 (0.0) |
| Method of payment | |||
| Commercial | 9,225,030 (59.5) | 2,954,412 (57.0) | 6,270,618 (60.8) |
| Medicare | 3,955,237 (25.5) | 1,533,722 (29.6) | 2,421,515 (23.5) |
| Medicaid/other public | 1,358,763 (8.8) | 372,957 (7.2) | 985,806 (9.6) |
| Cash | 953,988 (6.2) | 323,287 (6.2) | 630,701 (6.1) |
| Opioid type | |||
| Hydrocodone | 6,419,767 (41.4) | 2,120,265 (40.9) | 4,299,502 (41.7) |
| Oxycodone | 5,040,369 (32.5) | 1,560,610 (30.1) | 3,479,759 (33.8) |
| Tramadol | 2,687,650 (17.3) | 1,058,188 (20.4) | 1,629,462 (15.8) |
| Codeine | 1,005,441 (6.5) | 296,730 (5.7) | 708,711 (6.9) |
| Other | 339,791 (2.2) | 148,585 (2.9) | 191,206 (1.9) |
| Long-acting/extended release formulation | 145,819 (0.9) | 94,382 (1.8) | 51,437 (0.5) |
| Specialty | |||
| Cardiothoracic Surgery | 7,310 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 7,310 (0.1) |
| Colorectal Surgery | 199,842 (1.3) | 7,487 (0.1) | 192,355 (1.9) |
| General Surgery | 2,973,540 (19.2) | 416,926 (8.0) | 2,556,614 (24.8) |
| Hand Surgery | 621,085 (4.0) | 249,110 (4.8) | 371,975 (3.6) |
| Neurosurgery | 697,971 (4.5) | 272,686 (5.3) | 425,285 (4.1) |
| Ophthalmology | 226,842 (1.5) | 16,207 (0.3) | 210,635 (2.0) |
| Orthopedics | 7,322,687 (47.3) | 3,909,543 (75.4) | 3,413,144 (33.1) |
| Otolaryngology | 880,620 (5.7) | 47,820 (0.9) | 832,800 (8.1) |
| Pediatric Surgery | 46,499 (0.3) | 2,553 (0.0) | 43,946 (0.4) |
| Plastic Surgery | 997,394 (6.4) | 130,382 (2.5) | 867,012 (8.4) |
| Thoracic Surgery | 118,568 (0.8) | 11,270 (0.2) | 107,298 (1.0) |
| Transplant Surgery | 7,978 (0.1) | 523 (0.0) | 7,455 (0.1) |
| Urology | 1,207,231 (7.8) | 107,544 (2.1) | 1,099,687 (10.7) |
| Vascular Surgery | 185,451 (1.2) | 12,327 (0.2) | 173,124 (1.7) |