In a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics, researchers found in 2019, 22.1% of U.S. adults with chronic pain reported using a prescription opioid in the previous three months.
They present prevalence estimates of prescription opioid use among U.S. adults with chronic pain using data from the redesigned 2019 National Health Interview Survey.
The researchers found that among U.S. adults with chronic pain, 22.1% reported using a prescription opioid in the previous three months in 2019.
There was variation in prescription opioid use by age group, sex, educational attainment, employment status, poverty status, and health insurance coverage.
The team found there was an increase observed in prescription opioid use with age, followed by a decline among adults aged 65 years and older.
Opioid use was highest for those aged 45 to 64 years (25.9%). Use of a prescription opioid for chronic pain was more likely among women (24.3% versus 19.4% for men), adults who were not employed (27.8% versus 15.2% for employed adults), and those with a family income below 100% of the federal poverty level (27.0% compared with 19.4% among those with a family income of 200 percent or more of the federal poverty level).
The team warns prescription opioid used to treat chronic pain management is linked to increased risk of misuse, addiction, morbidity, and mortality.
If you care about opioids, please read studies about this drug can be harmful to people with opioid use disorders and findings of opioid misuse may permanently change the brain.
For more information about opioids and your health, please see recent studies about this drug could save people with opioid overdose, but less than 2% of them get it and results showing that more than half of Americans may receive inappropriate opioid treatments.
The study is published in the National Health Statistics Reports. One author of the study is James M. Dahlhamer, Ph.D.
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