Table 2: Postoperative Patient outcomes.
Continuous variables are reported using mean, standard deviation in parentheses, and median in brackets. Categorical variables are reported with n and column percentages relative to the number of responses for the specific question. NIH PROMIS Pain Intensity and Pain Interference are reported as T-score and standard error.
| Outcome | Week 1 n=200 | Week 2 n=194 | Week 3 n=187 | Week 4 n=187 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opioid # pain pills taken | 13.5 (15.9) [7] | 6.0 (12.0) [0] | 3.3 (9.0) [0] | 2.4 (7.5) [0] |
| Opioids taken (OME mg/7.5) | 14.6 (18.3) [7] | 6.9 (16.8) [0] | 3.7 (10.6) [0] | 2.7 (8.8) [0] |
| Opioid # pain pills left over | 28.1 (27.4) [24] | 23.7 (25.1) [17] | 23.6 (26.5) [15] | 22.2 (23.9) [15] |
| Opioids left over (OME mg/7.5) | 30.0 (37.2) [23] | 24.9 (31) [17] | 24.5 (33.7) [15] | 22.8 (26.8) [15] |
| Acetaminophen | 98, 49% | 83, 42.8% | 75, 39.9% | 64, 33.7% |
| NSAIDs | 56, 28% | 46, 23.7% | 38, 20.2% | 30, 15.8% |
| NSAIDs and Acetaminophen | 25, 12.5% | 20, 10.3% | 20, 10.6% | 17, 8.9% |
| Pain Intensity | 49.9 (6.3) | 45.5 (7.8) | 42.5 (8.3) | 39.8 (8.6) |
| Pain Interference | 62.3 (7.9) | 56.7 (9.1) | 53.0 (9.3) | 50.3 (10.1) |
| Reason for not taking any opioid pain pills: | ||||
| a. My pain was controlled without taking opioid pain pills | 44, 22% | 82, 42.3% | 108, 57.4% | 122, 64.2% |
| b. Side effects were too strong | 14, 7% | 14, 7.2% | 13, 6.9% | 12, 6.3% |
| c. I was concerned about becoming addicted | 4, 2% | 9, 4.6% | 9, 4.8% | 8, 4.2% |
| d. I was concerned because I was breast-feeding | 0, 0% | 0, 0% | 0, 0% | 0, 0% |
| e. I had no opioid pain pills left | 3, 1.5% | 9, 4.6% | 9, 4.8% | 13, 6.8% |
| f. Other | 6, 3% | 14, 7.2% | 8, 4.3% | 9, 4.7% |
| Storage location of left-over opioid pain pills | ||||
| a. cupboard or wardrobe | 38, 24.2% | 35, 26.1% | 38, 28.8% | 42, 33.6% |
| b. medicine cabinet/other box | 83, 52.9% | 78, 58.2% | 75, 56.8% | 66, 52.8% |
| c. Fridge | 5, 3.2% | 4, 3% | 2, 1.5% | 1, 0.8% |
| d. Other | 25, 15.9% | 11, 8.2% | 14, 10.6% | 11, 8.8% |
| e. Left-over pills were disposed of | 4, 2.5% 2, 1.3% | 5, 3.7% 1, 0.7% | 1, 0.8% 2, 1.5% | 4, 3.2% 1, 0.8% |
| f. Don’t have any leftover pain pills | ||||
| Locked Storage Location | 26, 17.2% | 23, 18.0% | 21, 16.3% | 23, 19.2% |
| Opioid Disposal Location | ||||
| a. Household garbage | 1, 0.50% | 0, 0.0% | 0, 0.0% | 1, 0.50% |
| b. Sink or toilet | 2, 1.0% | 2, 1.% | 1 0.5% | 3, 1.6% |
| c. Returned to pharmacy | 0, 0.0% | 0, 0.0% | 0, 0.0% | 0, 0.0% |
| d. Returned to other medication take-back program | 1, 0.50% | 1, 0.50% | 0, 0.0% | 0, 0.0% |
| e. Other | 0, 0.0% | 2, 1.0% | 0, 0.0% | 0, 0.0% |