Rizeq YK, et al. - Via performing this cross-sectional, retrospective review of patients younger than 18 years of age who underwent ambulatory surgery by one of five surgical subspecialties (otolaryngology, general pediatric, plastic or reconstructive, orthopedics, and urology) during 2010 to 2017, researchers sought to delineate the trends in perioperative pain medication use for children undergoing ambulatory operations. They identified a total of 1,795,329 patients (median age: 10 years). Of these, 84.3% received an opioid or non-opioid analgesic. During the study period, they noted a decrease in the opioid use in the perioperative setting for ambulatory procedures from 74.9% to 66.9% as a proportion of total analgesic prescriptions. Among opioids commonly used, the most decrease was noted for intravenous morphine (from 19.8% to 15.4%), however, use of intravenous hydromorphone and oral oxycodone remained largely unchanged. Conversely, there was an increase in non-opiate medications, specifically intravenous ketorolac (from 8.4% to 13.6%), and intravenous acetaminophen use (from 0% to 8.5%). The trends of increased intravenous acetaminophen use raise the concerns for the cost-effectiveness of perioperative analgesia and resource utilization.