A new large scale study by researchers at Stanford University finds that some individuals can not stop taking powerful pain drugs once they've recovered from having knee surgery, Consumer Reports said.
According to Consumer Reports, the researchers found nearly all knee surgeries were linked with a higher risk of "chronic" opioid use, described as a patient filling 10 or more opioid prescriptions or receiving more than a 4-months' supply in a single year.
Consumer Reports said of the 11 common procedures studied, knee surgery was most likely to be associated with long-term opioid use.
Based on the study’s findings, about 7,200 Americans a year who weren’t taking opioids before knee surgery end up taking the drugs for a long time afterward.
