Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jun;108(6):788-790.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304349. Epub 2018 Apr 19.

Trends in Prescription Pain Medication Use by Race/Ethnicity Among US Adults With Noncancer Pain, 2000-2015

Jordan M Harrison  1 , Pooja Lagisetty  1 , Brian D Sites  1 , Cui Guo  1 , Matthew A Davis  1
Affiliations

Trends in Prescription Pain Medication Use by Race/Ethnicity Among US Adults With Noncancer Pain, 2000-2015

Jordan M Harrison et al. Am J Public Health. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine national trends in the use of various pharmacological pain medication classes by race/ethnicity among the US pain population.

Methods: We used data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to conduct a nationally representative, serial cross-sectional study of the noninstitutionalized US adult population from 2000 to 2015. We identified adults with moderate or severe self-reported pain and excluded individuals with cancer. We used complex survey design to provide national estimates of the percentage of adults with noncancer pain who received prescription pain medications among 4 groups: non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic or Latino, and other.

Results: The age- and gender-adjusted percentage of prescription opioid use increased across all groups, with the greatest increase among non-Hispanic White individuals. By 2015, the percentage of non-Hispanic Black adults using opioids approximated that of non-Hispanic White adults-in 2015, approximately 23% of adults in these 2 groups used opioids.

Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of a narrowing divide in opioid prescribing by race. However, in the context of the national epidemic of opioid-related addiction and mortality, opioid-related risks do not appear commensurate with the purported benefits.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Age- and Gender-Adjusted Percentage of US Adults With Pain Who Use Prescription Pain Medications by (a) Non-Hispanic White, (b) Non-Hispanic Black, (c) Hispanic or Latino, and (d) Other: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, United States, 2000–2015 Note. NSAIDs = nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Direct rate adjustment method used to adjust national trends for age and gender. National estimates from 2007 used as the standard population.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pletcher MJ, Kertesz SG, Kohn MA, Gonzales R. Trends in opioid prescribing by race/ethnicity for patients seeking care in US emergency departments. JAMA. 2008;299(1):70–78. - PubMed
    1. Ringwalt C, Roberts AW, Gugelmann H, Skinner AC. Racial disparities across provider specialties in opioid prescriptions dispensed to Medicaid beneficiaries with chronic noncancer pain. Pain Med. 2015;16(4):633–640. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Singhal A, Tien Y-Y, Hsia RY. Racial-ethnic disparities in opioid prescriptions at emergency department visits for conditions commonly associated with prescription drug abuse. PLoS One. 2016;11(8):e0159224. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Meghani SH, Byun E, Gallagher RM. Time to take stock: a meta-analysis and systematic review of analgesic treatment disparities for pain in the United States. Pain Med. 2012;13(2):150–174. - PubMed
    1. Becker WC, Starrels JL, Heo M, Li X, Weiner MG, Turner BJ. Racial differences in primary care opioid risk reduction strategies. Ann Fam Med. 2011;9(3):219–225. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources