Opioid Use in Patients With Testicular Cancer: Patterns and Risk Factors

Siddharth Marthi; Gregory Palmateer; Dattatraya Patil; Talia A Helman; Edouard Nicaise; Taylor A Goodstein; Kenneth Ogan; Vikram M Narayan; Viraj A Master; Mohammad Hajiha; Shreyas S Joshi

doi:10.1016/j.clgc.2025.102381

Opioid Use in Patients With Testicular Cancer: Patterns and Risk Factors

Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2025 May 29:102381. doi: 10.1016/j.clgc.2025.102381. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA. Electronic address: smarthi@emory.edu.
² Department of Urology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA.

PMID: 40541494
DOI: 10.1016/j.clgc.2025.102381

Abstract

Introduction: Prescription opioid use is a gateway to chronic dependence and associated morbidity and mortality. Research has demonstrated that men receiving narcotics after urologic surgery are at increased risk of persistent opioid use. However, factors associated with persistent use in testicular cancer patients specifically are poorly understood.

Materials and methods: The Truven Marketscan database was queried for patients with testicular cancer who underwent orchiectomy between 2009 and 2021. Patients who were under 18 years old, lacked insurance coverage during the study period, filled opioid prescriptions 3 months prior to orchiectomy, or had prior opioid use disorder diagnoses were excluded. Subgroup analysis was performed by receipt of advanced treatment, defined as chemotherapy and/or retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND). Opioid exposure was defined as receipt of ≥ 1 opioid prescriptions within 30 days of last treatment. Among those who underwent advanced treatment, pretreatment opioid use over the cohort median in oral morphine equivalents (OME) was included in the definition of opioid exposure. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify risk factors associated with our primary outcome: ≥ 1 filled opioid prescription between 31 to 90 days and 91 to 180 days after last treatment.

Results: Of 5409 total patients, 2115 (39.1%) underwent advanced treatment: 1697 (31.4%) chemotherapy, 185 (3.4%) RPLND, and 223 (4.3%) chemotherapy and RPLND (combination). Opioid exposure was associated with a filled opioid prescription at 31 to 90 (OR 4.67) and 91 to 180 days (OR 4.74, both P < .001) after last treatment. On multivariate analysis, chemotherapy and combination therapy, but not RPLND alone, were independently associated with opioid use at 31 to 180 days post-treatment (P < .001).

Conclusions: Testicular cancer patients who received opioid prescriptions after orchiectomy were more likely to require additional opioid prescriptions 31 to 180 days after treatment. Advanced treatment with chemotherapy alone or combined with RPLND, but not RPLND alone, increased the opioid dependence.

Keywords: Chemotherapy; Opioids; RPLND; Substance use disorder; Testicular cancer.