Prolonged Postoperative Opioid Use after Arthroscopic Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome Surgery: Predictors and Outcomes at Minimum Two Year Follow-up

OBJECTIVES: To identify preoperative predictors for patients requiring at least one postoperative opioid refill after undergoing hip arthroscopy for femoroacetabular impingement and 2) to determine 2-year reported outcomes in those requiring opioid refills. METHODS: Data from consecutive patients undergoing hip arthroscopy for FAIS from January 2012 to December 2016 was analyzed. Baseline demographics were recorded, including preoperative opioid use, as well as pre- and 2-year postoperative functional scores specifically the Hip Outcome Score-Activity of Daily Living (HOS-ADL), HOS-Sports Subscale (HOS-SS), modified hip Harris score (mHHS), international hip outcome tool (iHOT-12), and visual analog score (VAS) for pain and satisfaction were recorded. A correlation analysis was used to identify preoperative demographic and clinical variables associated with requiring postoperative opioid refill. Variables with a statistically significant association (p<0.05) were included in a final logistic regression model. RESULTS: A total of 775 patients with postoperative opioid use and 2-year follow-up were included in the analysis. 141 (18.2%) patients required at least one preoperative opioid prescription refill in addition to the routine opioid total prescription postoperatively to every patient after hip arthroscopy. Patients requiring opioid refills had significantly lower HOS-ADL (79.9+20.3 vs 88.7+14.9), HOS-SS (64.6+29.5 vs 78.2+23.7), mHHS (74.2+21.1 vs 83.6+15.9), iHOT-12(63.6+27.9 vs 74.9+24.8), and VAS satisfaction (73.4+30.3 vs 82.2+24.9) averages, as well as higher pain (26.8+23.4 vs 17.9+21.8) when compared to patients without additional opioid refills with p<0.001 for all outcomes. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that preoperative predictors of requiring additional postoperative opioids included patients with a history of opioid use prior to surgery (OR: 4.04; 95%CI: 1.99-8.19) and larger preoperative alpha angles (OR:1.04; 95%CI: 1.01-1.07). Sub-analysis by past versus current opioid use at the time of surgery demonstrated that current use was a predictive of requiring additional postoperative opioids (OR:3.12; 95%CI: 1.06-9.21; p=0.039), while past opioid use for was not. CONCLUSION: Patients requiring at least one postoperative opioid refill after undergoing hip arthroscopy for FAIS have lower 2-year functional scores when compared to patients not requiring refills. Additionally, active pre-operative opioid use at the time of surgery, as well as larger preoperative alpha angles are predictors of requiring additional opioids for pain management.