Key clinical point: Mastectomy with reconstruction can lead to persistent use of controlled substances for some women.

Major finding: After their surgery, 13.1% of opioid-naive patients become new persistent opioid users, and 6.6% of sedative-hypnotic–naive patients become new persistent sedative-hypnotic users. Risk factors for substance use included younger age, a breast cancer diagnosis, and chemotherapy.

Study details: A retrospective cohort study using claims data for women who underwent mastectomy with reconstruction during 2008-2017 and were naive to prior use of opioids (n = 25,270) or sedative-hypnotics (n = 27,651).

Disclosures: The study was funded by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Cogan declared no conflicts of interest.