EVIDENCE LIBRARY
Rotator-Cuff Prescribing Study Combined Opioids and Benzodiazepines in Several Headline Counts
A health-system audit reported controlled-substance prescribing by encounter and patient. Its combined figures cannot be read as benzodiazepine-only prevalence.
A health-system audit reported controlled-substance prescribing by encounter and patient. Its combined figures cannot be read as benzodiazepine-only prevalence.
The denominators
The study identified 9,376 qualifying encounters involving 5,310 patients. About one-sixth of encounters generated an opioid or benzodiazepine prescription, and about one-fifth of patients received at least one such prescription.
Some encounters generated multiple prescriptions. Patients, encounters, and prescription counts therefore represented different units.
What the records leave open
The combined opioid-or-benzodiazepine outcome does not identify the benzodiazepine share without its separate breakdown. Nor does issuing a prescription establish filling, ingestion, benefit, or misuse.
The retrospective system captured outpatient prescriptions within the selected network and had limited detail about chronicity and comorbidities. Risk-factor flags also were not observed misuse events. For an individual shoulder-pain case, examine actual drugs and indication rather than treating the combined headline percentage as evidence that benzodiazepines were routinely necessary or harmful.
Source paper
Original analysis of the supplied journal article, identified as PMC8129054.