Huang P, et al. - Via a prospective assessment of 99 consecutive patients who underwent primary total knee and hip arthroplasty (TKA and THA) (TKA, n = 51) and (THA, n = 48). For both TKA and THA, the median number of pills prescribed over 30 days was 90. In TKA and THA patients, the median number of pain pills consumed was 67 and 37, respectively. In TKA patients vs THA patients, higher oral morphine equivalent consumption was observed. For TKA and THA patients, mean pain scores were 3.2 and 1.8, respectively. Moreover, TKA patients were 5 times more prone to need a refill in comparison with THA patients. Hence, in TKA and in THA, pain medication was significantly overprescribed by more than 34% and 140%, respectively. Thus, prescribing practices of narcotic pain medications after total joint arthroplasty led to a significant rise in the number of opioids available for potential abuse.