A newly published study of opioid use in the U.S. finds patients prescribed potentially addictive painkiller are taking more of them for longer – usually in the mannequin of dangerous cocktail combination . The increment is so stark that the identification number of prescriptions has rise up , even as the total numeral of Americans filling these prescriptions has correct .
The results of the report are described in a report issued yesterday by pharmacy benefits managerExpress hand . The probe examined more than 36 - million apothecary’s shop claims from from 6.8 - million Americans who had filled at least one opioid ethical drug for the intervention of annoyance , during a five - year period spanning 2009 through 2013 . Here are the key findings :
few Patients , Increasing Number of Prescriptions : The number of Americans filling prescription for opioids declined 9.2 % between 2009 and 2013 , but both the issue of prescriptions fulfil and the number of day of medication per prescription rose approximately 8.4 % .
brusk - Term Use of Prescription Opiates Declined : The turn of longer - full term opioid user remained fairly constant over the five years learn ; the number of short - term users pass up 11.1 % between 2009 and 2013 .
Patients probable to utilize Prescription Opiates Long - full term : near one half of patients who took opiate painkillers for more than 30 days in the first class of use continued to apply them for three years or longer . Almost 50 % of those patients were taking only short - acting opioids , place them at higher risk of addiction .
Younger grownup apply More Opioid Medications : The older have the high preponderance of opioid use , but young adult ( age 20 - 44 ) filled more opioid prescription and had the enceinte increase in the number of Clarence Shepard Day Jr. of medication prescribed , per prescription , of any age group over the five year menstruum .
Opioid Use More Prevalent Among charwoman : 30 % more fair sex than serviceman ask prescription medicine opiate in 2013 ; however , men are more likely to fill more prescription drug and take higher doses of these medication .
Pain prescription drug Most Prevalent in Southeastern Small Cities : The great concentration of opioid usage is feel in small metropolis in the Southeastern region of the U.S. , with the vast majority of these cities located in four states : Kentucky , Alabama , Georgia and Arkansas .
Most farsighted - Term Opioid Users Take life-threatening Drug Combinations : intimately 60 % of patient using opioids were taking a combination of drugs that are dangerous and potentially fatal ; among these mixtures , almost one in three patients were dictate anti - anxiety drugs know as benzodiazepine along with an opioid – the most common movement of overdose deaths involving multiple drug .
The U.S. accounts for less than 5 % of the world ’s universe , yetconsumes about 80 % of the world ’s opioid supply . Taken in compounding with the results of this investigation , statistic like this power point to an urgent medical subject . The report goes on to sum up discouraging findings fromthreerecentstudiesthat examine the rise and social toll of opioid revilement in the United States :
Opioids have a valuable role in pain discourse but these medication also expose users to a gamy peril of overdose and dependence . Opiate pain medication abuse has become a significant public health problem in the U.S. Since 1999 , there has been a four - fold step-up in death from unintended opioid overdoses . The nonmedical use of opiate painkillers costs the land $ 53.4 billion yearly , admit $ 42 billion in lost productivity ; and opioid abuser have health care monetary value that are nearly nine times high than nonabusers . Prescription opioids are also a known gateway drug for diacetylmorphine , with one study exhibit that as many as 80 % of heroin users first take prescription opioids before they started on heroin .
“ It suggests that we still have a stack more work to do in well informing the medical community that opioids may not be safe or effective for foresightful - term continuing botheration , ” state Dr. Andrew J. Kolodny , chief medical official of the drug discourse organizationPhoenix House , in an consultation with The New York Times .
“ It ’s just not the proper way to manage inveterate pain , ” echoed Dr. Glen Stettin , a senior vice president atExpress Scriptsand Colorado - author of the report issued Tuesday . “ That ’s a red flag that they are either not being wangle aright , or something else is run on . ”
[ Express ScriptsviaNYT ]
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