Open AccessPrescription opioids are associated with higher mortality in patients diagnosed with sepsis: A retrospective cohort study using electronic health records
Author(s) -
Rui Zhang,
Jingjing Meng,
Qinshu Lian,
Xi Chen,
Brent D. Bauman,
Haitao Chu,
Bradley J. Segura,
Sabita Roy
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0190362
Subject(s) - medicine , sepsis , retrospective cohort study , opioid , medical prescription , proportional hazards model , adverse effect , cohort , cohort study , emergency medicine , intensive care medicine , pharmacology , receptor
Sepsis continues to be a major problem for hospitalized patients. Opioids are widely used medications for pain management despite recent evidence revealing their adverse effects. The present study evaluates survival differences between opioid-treated patients and non-opioid-treated patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of sepsis. Clinical data was extracted from the University of Minnesota’s Clinical Data Repository, which includes Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of the patients seen at 8 hospitals. Among 5,994 patients diagnosed with sepsis, 4,540 opioid-treated patients and 1,454 non-opioid patients were included based on whether they are exposed to prescription opioids during their hospitalization. Cox proportional hazards regression showed that after adjustments for demographics, clinical comorbidities, severity of illness, and types of infection, opioid-treated patients had a significantly higher risk of death at 28 days.