Fatemi P, Zhang Y, Ho A, et al. - A retrospective longitudinal cohort was performed to evaluate opioid prescribing patterns amongst adults in the United States diagnosed with low back or lower extremity pain (LBP/LEP) who had undergone spine surgery. Researchers diagnosed a total of 25,506 individuals without previous prescription opioids with LBP/LEP and had undergone surgery within 1 year of diagnosis. After LEP or LBP diagnosis, a stepwise association exists between opioid use and frequency and duration of opioid prescriptions after surgery. The results demonstrated that the strength of prescriptions as assessed by morphine milligram equivalent reduced following surgery.