Illicit opioid use following changes in opioids prescribed for chronic non-cancer pain.

ABSTRACT:

Background

After decades of increased opioid pain reliever prescribing, providers are rapidly reducing prescribing. We hypothesized that reduced access to prescribed opioid pain relievers among patients previously reliant upon opioid pain relievers would result in increased illicit opioid use.

Methods and findings

We conducted a retrospective cohort study among 602 publicly insured primary care patients who had been prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain for at least three consecutive months in San Francisco, recruited through convenience sampling. We conducted a historical reconstruction interview and medical chart abstraction focused on illicit substance use and opioid pain reliever prescriptions, respectively, from 2012 through the interview date in 2017-2018. We

SUBMITTER: Coffin PO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7197848 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature