One in 100 new mothers go on to long-term opioid painkiller use; risk rises with size of Rx

Nearly half of American women having a baby in the last decade received a prescription for a powerful opioid painkiller as part of their birth experience, a new study shows. And one or two in every hundred were still filling opioid prescriptions a year later -- especially those who received birth-related opioid prescriptions before the birth, and those who received the largest initial doses.