Tuesday, October 3, 2023
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home Latest News

Opioid prescribing declines, but cuts are not uniform

December 28, 2021
in Latest News
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The volume of prescription opioids dispensed from retail pharmacies declined by 21% from 2008 to 2018, but the decline was not uniform across geographic areas, among types of patients or by type of prescriber, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The study, published by the Annals of Internal Medicine, is the first to examine the decline in opioid prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies based on both volume and potency of the drugs dispensed.

“The findings do not provide concrete answers about how much of the unnecessary prescribing of opioids has been eliminated,” said Dr. Bradley D. Stein, the study’s lead author and a senior physician researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “But the work demonstrates that there is a lot more nuance in the changes in opioid prescribing than we previously understood.”

There is wide agreement that the overprescribing of opioid medication for pain was a key driver in creation of the U.S. opioid crisis, which has led to widespread addiction and now kills more than 100,000 Americans annually.

State, federal and private initiatives have been undertaken to encourage physicians and other health providers to reduce the number of prescriptions written for opioids to treat pain. The number of opioid prescriptions peaked in 2011.

RAND researchers examined differences in opioid prescriptions filled at pharmacies during the periods of 2008 through 2009 and 2017 through 2018. The prescription information came from IQVIA Prescription data, which captures about 90% of prescriptions filled at U.S. retail pharmacies.

They used days’ supply and total daily opioid dose to calculate per capita morphine milligram equivalents (MME) for opioid prescriptions filled during the study period. Because opioids are available in different forms, this measurement provides a better assessment of the total amount of opioids filled by patients as compared to just the number of pills dispensed.

The study found that over the study period, per capita MME volume declined the most in metropolitan counties (more than 22%) and in counties with higher rates of fatal opioid overdoses (a 35% decline).

Substantial variation existed both within and across states. In some states, MME volume per capita increased in multiple counties. In many other states, there were counties with both increases and others with substantial decreases. Counties that experienced substantial decreases in per capita MME often were adjacent to counties with per capita increases.

Most clinical specialties recorded declines in the MME volume per practicing clinician. The greatest decrease in MME volume per practicing clinician was among adult primary care physicians (40% decline) and pain specialists (15% decline) — the clinicians with the highest MME volume per clinician in 2008-2009.

The greatest percentage decrease was among emergency physicians (71% decline) — clinicians who are likely prescribing opioids predominantly to patients experiencing acute pain in acute care settings.

“These results suggest the effects of clinician and policymaker efforts to reduce opioid

prescribing have affected populations differently,” Stein said. “Future efforts to enhance clinically appropriate opioid prescribing may need to be more clinically nuanced and targeted for specific populations.”

###

Other authors of the study are Erin A. Taylor, Flora Sheng, Andrew W. Dick, Mary Vaiana and Mark Sorbero.

RAND Health Care promotes healthier societies by improving health care systems in the United States and other countries.



Journal

Annals of Internal Medicine

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Change in Per Capita Opioid Prescriptions Filled at Retail Pharmacies, 2008–2009 to 2017–2018

Article Publication Date

27-Dec-2021

Tags: cutsdeclinesopioidPrescribinguniform
Share26Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Octopus bimaculoides hatchling

    Pumped for frigid weather: study pinpoints cold adaptations in nervous system of Antarctic octopus

    68 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Men with metastatic prostate cancer live longer thanks to new drugs

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17
  • Researchers propose a unified, scalable framework to measure agricultural greenhouse gas emissions

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • Gut bacteria found in wild wolves may be key to improving domestic dogs’ health

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • Genomic analysis reveals ancient cancer lineages in clams

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • Study uncovers reasons Americans did not get booster vaccines

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Null results research now published by major behavioral medicine journal

Groundbreaking mathematical proof: new insights into typhoon dynamics unveiled

Important additional driver of insect decline identified: Weather explains the decline and rise of insect biomass over 34 years

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 208 other subscribers

© 2023 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2023 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In