Use of prescription opioids is higher among adults with health conditions such as cirrhosis and diabetes, compared with those who do not have the conditions, according to an analysis of national survey data.
In 2015, reported use of opioids was 71.7% in adults with cirrhosis, compared with 37.8% for those who did not have cirrhosis. That is the largest difference among any of the various health conditions included in a report by Beth Han, MD, PhD, of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in Rockville, Md., which conducts the ongoing survey, and her associates (Ann Intern Med. 2017 July 31. doi: 10.7326/M17-0865).
Of those with cirrhosis who reported any use of prescription opioids, 86.1% said that they did so without misuse, while the other four conditions had rates ranging from 91.3% to 93.9%. Among those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 6.2% misused opioids without use disorder, and 2.5% had opioid use disorder. These estimates were not available for cirrhosis because of low statistical precision, but the corresponding figures were 6.9% and 1.5% for diabetes, 6% and 2.1% for hypertension, and 5.3% and 0.8% for cancer, the investigators said.
Overall prescription opioid use in 2015 was 37.8% for the civilian, noninstitutionalized adult population, about 91.8 million individuals. Estimates suggest that 4.7% (1.5 million) of all adults misused them in some way, and that 0.8% (1.9 million) had a use disorder, they reported.
“Among adults with misuse of prescription opioids, 59.9% used them without a prescription at least once in 2015, and 40.8% obtained them from friends or relatives for free for their most recent episode of misuse. Such widespread social availability of prescription opioids suggests that they are commonly dispensed in amounts not fully consumed by the patients to whom they are prescribed,” the authors wrote.
Funding for the study came from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the Department of Health and Human Services. One investigator reported stock holdings in 3M, General Electric, and Pfizer, and another reported stock holdings in Eli Lilly, General Electric, and Sanofi. Dr. Han and the other three investigators disclosed that they had no conflicts of interest.