Hospitalized inflammatory bowel disease patients with opioid dependence have a threefold risk for in-hospital mortality compared with those who do not use opioids, according to a database analysis of over 1 million IBD patients.
The findings suggest that clinicians need to provide alternative forms of pain management.
“This is an important issue [and] physicians need to reduce opioid utilization, since it is a quality measure for IBD care,” said Gil Melmed, MD, the director of