Researchers studied 31,068 adults who participated in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2015 and 2016 and reported using opioids in the past year.
The study shows 3.9 million of the more than 89 million U.S. adults who used prescription opioids every year reported misusing the prescribed medications.
Prescribed opioid misuse was most strongly associated with:
• Co-occurring misuse of opioids without a prescription
• Misuse of benzodiazepines
• Other drug use disorders
• History of illegal activity
• Psychological distress
More articles on opioids:
Physician tells jury ‘beautiful sales reps’ influenced his unnecessary prescribing of opioids
How Atrium Health prevented 23K high-risk opioid prescriptions
Judge orders full release of lawsuit against Purdue Pharma
