Table 3.
Characteristics of Patients Admitted to Medicine Service with Moderate-to-Severe Pain by Opioid Dose Prescribed during 24 Hours before Discharge
| Characteristics, n (%) or mean ± standard deviation | Opioid Dose |
p | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MEDD <50 (n = 92) | MEDD ≥50 (n = 50) | ||
| MEDD dose, mg | 13.9 ± 13.9, range 0–45 | 158.1 ± 111.7, range 60–448 | <0.001 |
| Age, years | 75.9 ± 8.4 | 71.7 ± 7.4 | 0.004 |
| 65–74 | 44 (47.8) | 36 (72.0) | 0.006 |
| 75+ | 48 (52.2) | 14 (28.0) | |
| Female | 60 (65.2) | 24 (48.0) | 0.046 |
| Race and ethnicity | |||
| White | 43 (46.7) | 32 (64.0) | 0.14 |
| Asian | 21 (22.8) | 7 (14.0) | |
| Other | 28 (30.4) | 11 (22.0) | |
| Hispanic | 7 (7.6) | 4 (8.0) | 0.93 |
| Language and residence | |||
| Preferred language of English | 68 (73.9) | 42 (84.0) | 0.17 |
| Admission from community | 87 (94.6) | 42 (84.0) | 0.037 |
| Discharge to community | 62 (67.4) | 24 (48.0) | 0.024 |
| Conditions in medical history | |||
| Chronic pain | 38 (41.3) | 32 (64.0) | 0.010 |
| Depression | 20 (21.7) | 21 (42.0) | 0.011 |
| Cancer | 36 (39.1) | 27 (54.0) | 0.09 |
| Metastatic | 14 (15.2) | 18 (36.0) | 0.005 |
| Admission characteristics | |||
| Hospital length of stay | 6.6 ± 8.2 | 6.6 ± 6.4 | 0.98 |
| Admission pain score | 6.3 ± 1.8 | 6.9 ± 2.0 | 0.07 |
| Discharge pain score | 1.9 ± 2.5 | 3.4 ± 2.7 | 0.002 |
| Measures of morbidity | |||
| Cumulative illness burden (CIRS-G total score) | 17.2 ± 5.3 | 19.6 ± 5.0 | 0.010 |
| Multimorbidity severity (number of organ systems with CIRS-G score of ≥2)a | |||
| Three or more systems | 89 (96.7) | 49 (98.0) | 1.00 |
| Four or more systems | 80 (87.0) | 45 (90.0) | 0.59 |
| Five or more systems | 59 (64.1) | 40 (80.0) | 0.049 |
Each organ system scored 0–4 for illness severity: 0 = none, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe, 4 = extremely severe.
a
All patients in both groups had CIRS-G score of ≥2 in two or more organ systems.
MEDD, morphine equivalent daily dose in milligrams per day.