MedPage TodayGabapentin, Opioid Prescriptions More Likely to Overlap in Recent Years

By 2018, gabapentin and opioids were prescribed in an overlapping manner in 7.6% of prescriptions. Prescribers are likely responding to restrictions on opioid prescribing put in place during the opioid epidemic. Increased co-prescribing was most frequently done under the direction of a pain specialist. Still, the effectiveness of the concurrent prescribing of opioids and gabapentin is uncertain and potentially dangerous because of an association with all-cause and drug-related hospitalizations.