Use of opioids and analgesics among ED patients with dental and low back pain: A national perspective.

OBJECTIVES: Emergency department (ED) visits for dental pain and low back pain (LBP) are common. Many such patients have severe pain and receive opioids. Increased opioid-related deaths has led to efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions. We compared recent trends in use of analgesics and opioids in the ED and at discharge among patients with dental or LBP. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) of patients with dental pain or LBP from 2010 to 2015. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses exploring the association between pain location and use of analgesics and opioids controlling for age, gender, and pain severity. RESULTS: There were an estimated 16 and 49 million patient visits for dental and LBP, respectively. Prescription of opioids at discharge decreased from 59% to 50% (p = 0.02) in dental and 46% to 39% in LBP patients (p = 0.09). Compared to patients with LBP, patients with dental pain were less likely to receive analgesics (OR 0.65, 95% CI, 0.57-0.74) or opioids (OR 0.51, 95% CI, 0.44-0.59) while in the ED. In contrast, dental pain patients were more likely to have analgesics (OR 1.32, 95% CI, 1.16-1.51) or opioids (OR 1.65, 95% CI, 1.47-1.85) prescribed at the time of ED discharge than patients with LBP. CONCLUSIONS: Prescription of opioids decreased for ED dental patients. While less likely to receive analgesics and opioids in the ED, patients with dental pain were more likely to be prescribed analgesics and opioids at the time of ED discharge than those with LBP.

Perimortem trauma in King Richard III: a skeletal analysis.

BACKGROUND: Richard III was the last king of England to die in battle, but how he died is unknown. On Sept 4, 2012, a skeleton was excavated in Leicester that was identified as Richard. We investigated the trauma to the skeleton with modern forensic techniques, such as conventional CT and micro-CT scanning, to characterise the injuries and establish the probable cause of death. METHODS: We assessed age and sex through direct analysis of the skeleton and from CT images. All bones were examined under direct light and multi-spectral illumination. We then scanned the skeleton with whole-body post-mortem CT. We subsequently examined bones with identified injuries with micro-CT. We deemed that trauma was perimortem when we recorded no evidence of healing and when breakage characteristics were typical of fresh bone. We used previous data to identify the weapons responsible for the recorded injuries. FINDINGS: The skeleton was that of an adult man with a gracile build and severe scoliosis of the thoracic spine. Standard anthropological age estimation techniques based on dry bone analysis gave an age range between 20s and 30s. Standard post-mortem CT methods were used to assess rib end morphology, auricular surfaces, pubic symphyseal face, and cranial sutures, to produce a multifactorial narrower age range estimation of 30-34 years. We identified nine perimortem injuries to the skull and two to the postcranial skeleton. We identified no healed injuries. The injuries were consistent with those created by weapons from the later medieval period. We could not identify the specific order of the injuries, because they were all distinct, with no overlapping wounds. Three of the injuries-two to the inferior cranium and one to the pelvis-could have been fatal. INTERPRETATION: The wounds to the skull suggest that Richard was not wearing a helmet, although the absence of defensive wounds on his arms and hands suggests he was still otherwise armoured. Therefore, the potentially fatal pelvis injury was probably received post mortem, meaning that the most likely injuries to have caused his death are the two to the inferior cranium. FUNDING: The University of Leicester.

Patterns of comorbidity and dysfunction in clinically referred preschool and school-age children with bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Despite its common onset in preschool years, few studies have examined the characteristics of bipolar disorder (BPD) in preschoolers. This study reports on the clinical characteristics, psychiatric comorbidity, and functioning of preschoolers identified with BPD who were referred to a pediatric psychiatric clinic. METHODS: Structured psychiatric interviews assessing lifetime psychopathology by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (third edition, revised) criteria were completed with parents about their children and confirmed by clinical interview of the child. Family, social, and overall functioning were also assessed at intake. Findings from preschoolers ages 4 to 6 years were compared with a group of children ages 7 to 9 years (school age). RESULTS: We identified 44 preschoolers and 29 consecutively ascertained school-age youth with BPD. Preschoolers had similar rates of comorbid psychopathology compared to school-age youth with BPD. Preschoolers and school-age children with BPD typically manifest symptoms of mania and major depression simultaneously (mixed states). Both preschoolers and school-age children had substantial impairment in school, social, and overall functioning. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that clinically referred preschoolers with BPD share with school-age children with BPD high rates of comorbid psychopathology and impaired functioning. Follow-up of these clinically referred preschoolers with BPD evaluating the stability of their diagnoses, treatment response, and their long-term outcome is necessary.