Emergency Department Prescribing and Opioid-Related Harms Among Adolescents in Alberta: 2010-2020

During a decade when ED opioid prescribing to adolescents decreased substantially, subsequent opioid-related harms nearly doubled in Alberta. Broad deprescribing measures in the ED may not effectively combat the opioid epidemic in this province. However, caution should remain for patients with longer prescription durations, frequent ED use, and mental health or substance use comorbidity and further studies are needed to better delineate patient-level risk.