About The Study: In this study of 460,000 privately insured postpartum women, patients who gave birth to a single, live newborn after March 2020 were more likely to fill more potent and more frequent opioid prescriptions than patients who gave birth prior to March 2020. Increases were larger for patients delivering via cesarean birth than those delivering vaginally. Increases in opioid prescriptions may be associated with increased risk of opioid misuse, opioid use disorder, and opioid-related overdose among postpartum women.
Authors: Shelby R. Steuart, M.P.A., of the University of Georgia in Athens, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.6438)
