Exploring incidence and risk factors for persistent postoperative opioid use in adult surgical patients: a systematic review protocol.

The proposed study methods follow the JBI methodology for systematic reviews of prevalence and incidence. A systematic search will be conducted in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Central, Web of Science, and a search of gray literature will include Google Scholar and ClinicalTrials.gov. Study selection, critical appraisal, and data extraction will be performed by 2 independent reviewers aided by the relevant JBI systematic review tools. We aim to produce a narrative synthesis of results and conduct a meta-analysis where feasible, in addition to subgroup analyses of suitable populations. The results are intended to promote safe, evidence-based postoperative opioid prescribing when considering risk factors for persistent postoperative opioid use.