Opioid abuse and misuse account for a majority of injury deaths in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Surveillance Summary says state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) can and should used as a deterrent.
“Every day, 44 people die in American communities from an overdose of prescription opioids and many more become addicted,” said CDC director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “States are on the frontline of witnessing these overdose deaths. This research can help inform their prescription overdose prevention efforts and save lives.”
This summary is the first to analyze data from state PDMPs. The summary included 2013 data from the following eight states: California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Ohio and West Virginia. These states represent about a quarter of U.S. population.
The study found that a wide range of prescribing practices despite the fact that the conditions reported were about the same. All eight states were prescribed opioids twice as often compared to stimulants or benzodiazepines.
The summary also found the following:
- A small minority of prescribers are responsible for most opioid prescriptions.
- The top 1 percent of prescribers wrote 1 in 4 opioid prescriptions in Delaware, compared with 1 in 8 in Maine.
- People who receive opioid prescriptions often receive benzodiazepine prescriptions as well, despite the risk for adverse drug interactions.
- The percentage of controlled substance prescriptions paid for in cash – an indicator of abuse – varied almost threefold among five states reporting this measure.
The CDC funds 16 states through the Prevention for States program to improve prescribing practices. To learn if your state is funded, click here.
