Table 5.

Health Care Use and Complications According To Duration of Opioid Use

Type of Health Care Use	No Opioids	Acute Opioids Only	Episodic Opioid Use	Chronic Opioid Use	P
Patients (n)	10,184	10,543	404	4,883
Opioid dose at last dispensing, morphine equivalent (median)^*	NA^‡	30.0 mg	20.0 mg	30.0 mg	<.001
Opioid prescribers (median)^*	NA^‡	1	2	3	<.001
Patients receiving sedative-hypnotic prescription during the 6 months before/after index visit (n [%])^†	1,018 (10.0)	2,163 (20.5)	134 (33.2)	2,166 (44.4)	<.001
Patients with ER visit 6 months before/after index date (n [%])^†	1,725 (16.9)	3,627 (34.4)	148 (36.6)	1,948 (39.9)	<.001
ER visit with back pain diagnosis, patients with any ER visit (n [%])^†	405 (23.5)	1,246 (34.4)	50 (33.8)	535 (27.5)	.66
Opioid prescription filled within 5 days of ER visit (% of patients with ER visit)^†	1 (0.1)	2,048 (56.5)	85 (57.4)	1,091 (56.0)	<.001
Clinic visits of any type during the 6 months before/after index date (median)^*	8	11	17	18	<.001
Patients with any pain clinic visit during the 6 months before/after index date (n [%])^†	99 (1.0)	227 (2.2)	25 (6.2)	585 (12.0)	<.001
Patients with any hospitalization during the 6 months before or after index date (n [%])^†	364 (3.6)	1,126 (10.7)	87 (21.5)	1,012 (20.7)	<.001

↵* ^aKruskal-Wallis test.
↵† Cochrane-Armitage test for trend.
↵‡ NA, not applicable. This category was not included in tests of statistical significance.
ER, emergency room.