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Journal Article

Citation

Ries R, Krupski A, West II, Maynard C, Bumgardner K, Donovan D, Dunn C, Roy-Byrne PP. J. Addict. Med. 2015; 9(5): 417-426.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (RR, AK, IIW, KB, DD, CD, PRB), University of Washington at Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA; Department of Health Services (CM), University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle, WA; and Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute (DD), University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, American Society of Addiction Medicine, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/ADM.0000000000000151

PMID

26428361

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare demographic, clinical, and survival characteristics of drug-using safety-net primary care patients who used or did not use opioids, and to examine treatment implications of our findings.

METHODS: The sample consisted of 868 adults who reported illicit drug use in the 90 days before study enrollment, 396 (45.6%) of whom were opioid users.

RESULTS: Multiple measures indicated that, as a group, opioid users were less physically and psychiatrically healthy than drug users who did not endorse using opioids, and were heavy users of medical services (eg, emergency departments, inpatient hospitals, and outpatient medical) at considerable public expense. After adjusting for age, they were 2.61 (confidence interval, 1.48-4.61) times more likely to die in the 1 to 5 years after study enrollment and more likely to die from accidental poisoning than nonopioid users. Subgroup analyses suggested patients using any nonprescribed opioids had more serious drug problems including more intravenous drug use and greater HIV risk than patients using opioids only as prescribed.

CONCLUSIONS: Use of opioids adds a dimension of severity over and above illicit drug use as it presents in the primary care setting. Opioid users may benefit from psychiatric and addiction care integrated into their primary care setting, naloxone overdose prevention kits, and prevention efforts such as clean needle exchanges. Addiction or primary care providers are in a key position to facilitate change among such patients, especially the third or more opioid users having a goal of abstinence from drugs.


Language: en

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