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Non Medical Use Of Prescription Opioids Is Common

The non-medical use of prescription opioids – taking someone else’s prescription medication or taking it for the wrong reasons – is increasing in the United States. Inappropriate use of prescription medications has been associated with medical and psychiatric symptoms. Not only does this misuse have fundamental health risks associated with it but these “legal” drugs have the potential of becoming a substance-use disorder (SUD) leading to job problems, arrest, even the risk of death. This Yale University School of Medicine study was designed to examine the demographic and clinical attributes of people who misuse prescription opioids, as well as what psychiatric, medical, and substance-abuse characteristics people who abuse or are dependent on prescription opioids may have.

Researchers analyzed the 2002-2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual cross-sectional survey of the civilian, non-institutionalized population 12 years and older. The NSDUH is designed to collect information on the prevalence of substance use and co-existing psychiatric conditions. For this particular study, data for 91,823 respondents aged 18 years and older were analyzed.

Results indicated that non-medical use of prescription opioids is common. Of the population surveyed, 4.5 percent had engaged in their non-medical use during the preceding year, while nearly 13 percent of these individuals met criteria for abuse/dependence. Results showed that younger age (18-21), unemployment, phobic symptoms, past year alcohol abuse/dependence, were among the characteristics associated with past-year non-medical use of prescription opioids. Based on their findings, the researchers recommended that clinicians screen for non-medical use of prescription opioids when patients present with panic, social phobia, and agoraphobia, low self-rated health status, and other substance misuse. They also suggested that future research examine how many of those with non-medical use began taking an opioid for a legitimate medical condition and then transitioned into problematic use.

(Becker, WC, Sullivan, LE, Tetrault, JM, Desai, RA, Fiellin, DA: Non-medical use, abuse and dependence on prescription opioids among U.S. adults: Psychiatric, medical and substance use correlates. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 94:38-47, 2008.)

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