Hockley A, Ge D, Vasquez-Montes D, et al. - In order to find out the impact of preoperative narcotic use in addition to other predictors of the pattern and duration of postoperative narcotic usage, researchers performed a retrospective cohort study at a single academic institution of individuals undergoing a one- or two-level primary transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion between 2014 and 2017. This study estimated total oral morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs) for inpatient use and applied as the common unit of comparison. At 6 months, pre-operative opioid usage is correlated with higher total inpatient opioid usage and a significantly higher risk of long-term opiate usage. Compared with 5% of narcotic-naïve individuals, approximately 40% of pre-operative narcotic users will continue to consume narcotics at a 6-month follow-up.