Treatment Patterns and Clinical Evaluation of Postoperative Strong Opioids in Patients With Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Nationwide, Prospective, Non-Interventional Study in South Korea

Purpose:To investigate treatment patterns and efficacy of postoperative strong opioids in patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in KoreaMethods:A prospective, non-interventional study of 301 patients who underwent TKA and received strong opioids following patient controlled analgesia (PCA) was conducted by reviewing patient charts and diaries from 19 teaching hospitals. Clinical characteristics, strong opioid treatment patterns, efficacy of strong opioid on a scale of 0–10, and opioid-related adverse events (AEs) were investigated during hospitalization and at first outpatient visit. Safety analysis was conducted on 301 patients, and efficacy analysis was conducted on full analysis set (FAS) which consisted of all the patients who had at least 1 efficacy result among 301 patients.Results:Among the FAS population of 298 patients, 86.9% were female, and mean age was 68.7 ± 7.5 years. Average duration of PCA was 4.3 ± 1.7 days, and average length of hospital stay including surgery was 16.3 ± 7...