Table 3.

Hospital Encounters within 12 Months after an Index Emergency Department Visit to a Low-Intensity or High-Intensity Opioid Prescriber.^*

Type of Hospital Encounter	12-Mo Encounter Rate		Adjusted Odds Ratio (95% CI)†	P Value†
	Patients Treated by Low-Intensity Prescriber (N = 215,678)	Patients Treated by High-Intensity Prescriber (N = 161,951)
	% of patients
Any hospital encounter	60.5	60.3	0.99 (0.97–1.00)	0.13
Any hospitalization	46.1	45.8	0.99 (0.97–1.00)	0.15
Any emergency department visit	57.4	57.1	0.99 (0.97–1.00)	0.07
Any opioid-related hospital encounter	9.73	9.96	1.03 (1.00–1.05)	0.02
Fall or fracture	4.28	4.56	1.07 (1.03–1.11)	<0.001
Constipation	4.16	4.11	0.99 (0.96–1.02)	0.44
Respiratory failure	2.04	2.01	0.98 (0.94–1.03)	0.46
Opioid poisoning	0.07	0.10	1.40 (1.12–1.74)	<0.001
Any selected non–opioid-related hospital encounter	11.77	11.75	1.00 (0.98–1.02)	0.85
Hyperglycemia	0.24	0.24	0.99 (0.87–1.14)	0.93
Urinary tract infection	1.08	1.13	1.04 (0.98–1.11)	0.17
Atrial fibrillation	6.48	6.39	0.98 (0.95–1.01)	0.24
Stroke	4.12	4.08	0.99 (0.96–1.02)	0.52

^*A hospital encounter refers to a hospitalization or an emergency department visit. Definitions are provided in the Methods section in the Supplementary Appendix. CI denotes confidence interval.

^†Adjusted odds ratios and P values were estimated with the use of logistic-regression models with occurrence of an opioid-related hospitalization in the 12 months after an emergency department visit as the dependent variable. The key covariate was an indicator for being seen by a high-intensity or a low-intensity prescriber. All models were adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnic group, Medicare–Medicaid dual eligibility, and the presence of 11 chronic conditions.