Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use and Use Disorders Among Adults Aged 18

From 2003 to 2013, the percentage of nonmedical use of prescription opioids decreased among adults in the USA, while the prevalence of prescription opioid use disorders, frequency of use, and related deaths increased, according to a study in the October 13 issue of JAMA.

“The results [of the study] underscore the importance of addressing the prescription opioid crisis”, Dr. Beth Han, the lead author of the study and employee at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in Rockville, Maryland, said in an email.

High-intensity opioid choose higher within a moment in time of elevated prescribing of within the 2000s, Han instructed Reuters Health electronically.

The researchers used survey data from 472,000 people who reported their nonmedical use and use disorders related to opioids between 2003 and 2012, as well as national vital statistics on cause of death for the same period.

They found that the rate of nonmedical use of opioids dropped from 5.4% to 4.9% over the 10-year period, but the rate of use disorders went up from 0.6% to 0.9% in the same period. The 12-month prevalence of high-frequency use (≥200 days) also increased from 0.3% (95% CI, 0.19%-0.35%) in 2003 to 0.4% (95% CI, 0.31%-0.48%) in 2013 (absolute difference, 0.1%; 95% CI, 0.01%-0.29%).

“The silver lining may be that fewer patients are using opioids [narcotics] nonmedically, but the dark cloud is that more patients are misusing greater quantities, suffering more [addiction], and are dying”, Nelson said.

But the increase in use disorders and misuse in the new study suggests “more patients are experiencing an inexorable progression from initial opioid use to frequent use”, Han and colleagues wrote.

Mortality assessed by drug overdose death rates involving prescription opioids increased from 4.5 per 100,000 in 2003 to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2013. In 2013, more than three-fourths of adults aged 18 through 64 years who had prescription opioid use disorders did not receive any substance use treatment.

A new study in the United States has found inconsistent trends in the abuse and misuse of opioids among adults. The study will look into safe prescribing practices and how to reduce the availability of opioids that are legally prescribed.

Doctors will also need effective training programs to help them identify and provide treatment to the high-risk users of prescription opioids for nonmedical reasons. Opioid dependence develops when people use the medication regularly for a period of time, and they can suffer from withdrawal symptoms when asked to stop abruptly.

“It offers ways that medical providers use, so that people who use opioids non medically and others, can recognize the signs of an overdose and effectively reverse it with naloxone (a lifesaving opioid overdose drug)”. “We also need to think about changing the conversation about opioid addiction, which is a chronic relapsing illness, just like diabetes”.

“The real challenge in this is getting more people into settings where they can get methadone and buprenorphine”, said Saloner.