Preoperative Opioid Therapy Correlated With Increased Rate of Complications in Foot and Ankle Surgery.

Background: The purpose of this study is to determine whether patients with a history of preoperative opioid use will have an increased likelihood of postoperative opioid use and complications after undergoing forefoot, hindfoot, or ankle surgery.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on forefoot, hindfoot, and ankle surgeries between 2015 and 2020 with a single fellowship-trained orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeon at an academic medical center. A total of 326 patients (356 feet) were included with a mean follow-up up of 2.12 (range, 1.00-4.98) years. Data collected included demographics, medical comorbidities, treatment history, complications and reoperation rates, patient-reported outcome measures (eg, Foot and Ankle Outcome Score), and opioid exposure.

Results: There were significantly more complications among opioid exposed patients than opioid naïve ones (exposed = 29.41%, naïve = 9.62%; P = .044). Preoperative opioid exposure significantly correlated with postoperative opioid exposure (90-day: r = .903, p < .001; 180-day: r = .805, p < .001), and increased hospital length of stay (r = .263, p = .029). Furthermore, body mass index was a significant predictor of postoperative opioid exposure (90-day: r = .262, p = .013; 180-day: r = .217, p = .021), as was concomitant mental illness (90-day: r = .225, p = .035).

Conclusion: Patients with preoperative opioid exposure have significantly more complications and increased postoperative opioid exposure after foot and ankle surgery.

Levels Of Evidence: Level III: Retrospective cohort study.