Despite Drug Abuse Crisis, Opioid Prescriptions Vary Widely From State to State: Study

While the overall number of opioids prescribed in the U.S. has decreased in recent years, the findings of a new study suggest that prescription rates continue to vary widely from state-to-state, and long-term prescriptions continue to increase.

In a report published this month in the medical journal JAMA Network Open, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the number of opioid prescriptions written for longer than a 30-day period increased three percent each year, even as prescriptions for opioids overall decreased. However, state prescription rates varied by as much as a factor of three, suggesting that additional efforts in certain locations may help reduce the incidence of opioid abuse and addiction.

The opioid crisis claims more and more lives each year, due to accidental and intentional overdoses associated with the powerful and addictive pain medications. In fact, Americans are now more likely to die from an opioid overdose than from a car crash.

Despite attempts to address this epidemic by reducing prescriptions for opioids, researchers warn that prescribing the drugs for longer periods of time may be worsening the crisis and a sign of more opioid addictions.

More than 223 million opioid prescriptions were filled each year in the U.S. between 2006 and 2017, according to data from the IQVIA Exponent database.

During the 12-year period evaluated in this study, the number of opioids prescribed increased each year until 2010. By 2011, prescriptions began to decrease, and researchers indicate there was a 13% net reduction in opioid prescriptions during the 12-year study period.

There were statistically significant decreases in prescribing in 23 states, with the most significant decreases seen since 2017.

Despite these decreases in prescribing, the data also indicated prescribing for prescriptions longer than 30 days increased three percent annually, with one in three prescriptions filled were for durations longer than 30 days.

The average prescription duration increased 37% across all states and over the 12-year period, lengthening from an average of 13 days to 18 days, with statistically significant increases seen in every state.

“In this study, across 12 years, the mean duration and prescribing rate for long-term prescriptions of opioids increased, whereas the amount of opioids prescribed per person and prescribing rate for high-dosage prescriptions, short-term prescriptions, and extended-release and long-acting formulations decreased. Some decreases were significant, but results were still high,” the researchers noted. “Two- to 3-fold state variation in 5 measures occurred in most states. This information may help when state-specific intervention programs are being designed.”

States have a responsibility to establish and fund state specific regulations, legislation, policies, surveillance, and intervention programs beyond the federal level, the researchers said.