Preoperative opioid use and postoperative return to work following spinal surgery in workers’ compensation settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Opioid use prior to spinal surgery is common among patients with workers’ compensation (WC) claims. Extended opioid use for pain management in this population is associated with several adverse outcomes including delayed return to work (RTW). Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to assess the evidence on the association of preoperative opioid use with stable RTW and RTW within 1-year after spinal surgery. Material and methods: The authors searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Emcare, CINAHL Plus, Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to 14 January 2023. The authors included studies that compared any preoperative opioid use with no opioid use, and those that enabled a comparison of different durations of preoperative opioid use. The primary outcome was stable RTW after spinal surgery. Secondary outcomes were RTW within 1-year after surgery and cost of WC claims. A random effect model was assumed to pool the effect estimate. The GRADE approach was applied to evaluate the certainty of evidence. Results: From 2589 records, 10 studies were included, and of these, nine were considered for quantitative synthesis. All studies were observational with eight retrospective cohort and two case–control studies. Five studies each investigated cervical and lumbar disorders. With moderate certainty evidence, the odds of postoperative stable RTW reduced by half (OR: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.43–0.59; 5549 participants) in patients using opioids preoperatively. Similarly, moderate certainty evidence from 2348 participants demonstrated that the odds of RTW within 1-year after surgery were reduced by more than half in patients with preoperative opioid prescriptions (OR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.36–0.59). Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis shows that preoperative opioid use is associated with a reduction in odds of postoperative RTW by half in patients with WC-funded spinal surgery.