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We’re Giving the Most Vulnerable People the Most Potent Opioid Painkiller Prescriptions [PSMag.com]

 

Every medicine has the possibility of harmful side effects, but for painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet, that potential is perhaps more dramatic than most. So you might think that, when prescribing such drugs, doctors select their patients carefully. But, according to new research, that’s not the case.

A growing body of studies finds that those with mental-health diagnoses such as anxiety, depression, alcohol and other drug addictions, and even opioid addictions are far more likely than people without such diagnoses to receive prescriptions for supplies of opioid painkillers lasting 90 days or more. Just earlier this month, a study of commercial health insurance data found that those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder prescriptions were 50 percent more likely to get a long-term opioid prescription; those with opioid use disorder diagnoses were 900 percent as likely.

At the same time, researchers have been finding that people with mood disorders are more apt to overdose on opioids. The upshot? The very folks who are most vulnerable to opioids’ deadliest effects are unusually likely to get a long-term supply of the drugs from their doctor. “We’re prescribing the opioids to the most high-risk individuals,” says Mark Edlund, a psychiatrist who studies mental health for RTI International, a non-profit think tank.



[For more of this story, written by Francie Diep, go to https://psmag.com/were-giving-...55529ab82#.nonf8myrv]

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