No existing standard for opioid treatment in critically ill infants
Opioids such as fentanyl and morphine can provide effective pain relief for infants with complex medical conditions when used carefully. But who decides what careful actually means?
In a study- Opens in a new window published in JAMA Network Open, researchers at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles found the opioid treatment that critically ill, hospitalized infants received depended on their location. The length of time the infants were prescribed opioids differed by geographic region across the U.S.— the Northeast, South, Midwest or West. And up to 16% of this variability in infant opioid prescriptions and 20% of the methadone prescriptions—the medication used to help wean infants safely from opioids—depended on the individual hospital.
“Opioid prescribing patterns for adults have been well-studied, but this study is the first to examine inpatient opioid prescribing patterns in critically ill infants on a national scale,” says Olivia A. Keane, MD, lead author on the paper. “Our study reports wide variation in opioid prescribing and thus exposure of infants to opioids across institutions.” Dr. Keane notes that the lack of standardized guidelines for opioid prescribing in infants can lead to significant differences in hospitalization length of stay, days on mechanical ventilation, days of IV nutrition, and can also impact healthcare costs.
March 12, 2024
by Wendy Wolfson