Distribution of Prescription Opioid Use Among Privately Insured Adults Without Cancer: United States, 2001 to 2013
Authors: Eric C. Sun, Anupam B. Jena
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2017)

Letters7 November 2017Distribution of Prescription Opioid Use Among Privately Insured Adults Without Cancer: United States, 2001 to 2013Eric C. Sun, MD, PhD and Anupam B. Jena, MD, PhDEric C. Sun, MD, PhDFrom Stanford University, Stanford, California, and Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. and Anupam B. Jena, MD, PhDFrom Stanford University, Stanford, California, and Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M17-1408 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Background: Deaths from prescription opioids have sharply increased in the United States. In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued recommendations for opioid prescribing for chronic pain (1). In light of this and other public health efforts, an integral piece of epidemiologic information about opioid misuse remains unknown: the distribution of use across the population. This fact has important policy implications. Concentration of opioid use among a few patients would argue for focused efforts aimed at reducing use among these persons. Conversely, even distribution would argue for broader, population-wide policies.Objective: To identify the extent to which ...References1. Dowell D, Haegerich TM, Chou R. CDC guideline for prescribing opioids for chronic pain—United States, 2016. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2016;65:1-49. [PMID: 26987082] doi:10.15585/mmwr.rr6501e1 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Aizcorbe A, Liebman E, Pack S, Cutler DM, Chernew ME, Rosen AB. Measuring health care costs of individuals with employer-sponsored health insurance in the U.S.: a comparison of survey and claims data. Stat J IAOS. 2012;28:43-51. [PMID: 26146526] doi:10.3233/SJI-2012-0743 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Principles of Analgesic Use in the Treatment of Acute Pain and Cancer Pain. 6th ed. Glenview, IL: American Pain Society; 2008. Google Scholar4. Quan H, Li B, Couris CM, Fushimi K, Graham P, Hider P, et al. Updating and validating the Charlson comorbidity index and score for risk adjustment in hospital discharge abstracts using data from 6 countries. Am J Epidemiol. 2011;173:676-82. [PMID: 21330339] doi:10.1093/aje/kwq433 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Hughes A, Williams MR, Lipari RN, Bose J, Copello EA, Kroutil LA. Prescription drug use and misuse in the United States: results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. NSDUH Data Review. September 2016. Accessed at www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR2-2015/NSDUH-FFR2-2015.htm on 21 August 2017. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: From Stanford University, Stanford, California, and Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.Grant Support: Dr. Sun is supported by a K08 award and grant K08DA042314-01 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Jena is supported by the National Institutes of Health Early Independence Award and grant 1DP5OD017897-01 from the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M17-1408.This article was published at Annals.org on 12 September 2017. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byNonconsensual Dose Reduction Mandates are Not Justified Clinically or Ethically: An AnalysisPattern and probability of dispensing of prescription opioids and benzodiazepines among the new users in Australia: a retrospective cohort studyAssociation between cannabis laws and opioid prescriptions among privately insured adults in the USWho Are Dispensed the Bulk Amount of Prescription Opioids?A crisis of opioids and the limits of prescription control: United States 7 November 2017Volume 167, Issue 9Page: 684-686KeywordsAdverse eventsDisclosureHealth insuranceMorphineOpioid addictionOpioidsOxycodonePatientsPrevention, policy, and public healthPublic policy ePublished: 12 September 2017 Issue Published: 7 November 2017 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2017 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...