—By Bob Kronemyer
Although patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery with persistent opioid use or dependence have roughly the same mortality rate as those without (3.1% vs. 4.0%), the opioid group experiences a higher number of complications overall, a longer hospital length of stay and higher costs, according to a large retrospective population-based cohort study. The study (JAMA Surg 2018 Dec 5. [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2018.4608) included more than 5.7 million