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Use of a prescription opioid registry to examine opioid misuse and overdose in an integrated health system.

2018 05

Journal Article

Authors:
Campbell, C.I.; Bahorik, A.L.; VanVeldhuisen, P.; Weisner, C.; Rubinstein, A.L.; Ray, T.

Secondary:
Prev Med

Volume:
110

Pagination:
31-37

PMID:
29410132

DOI:
10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.01.019

Keywords:
Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analgesics, Opioid; California; Drug Overdose; electronic health records; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Opioid-Related Disorders; Prescription Drug Misuse; Registries; Risk Factors

Abstract:
Strategies are needed to identify at-risk patients for adverse events associated with prescription opioids. This study identified prescription opioid misuse in an integrated health system using electronic health record (EHR) data, and examined predictors of misuse and overdose. The sample included patients from an EHR-based registry of adults who used prescription opioids in 2011 in Kaiser Permanente Northern California, a large integrated health care system. We characterized time-at-risk for opioid misuse and overdose, and used Cox proportional hazard models to model predictors of these events from 2011 to 2014. Among 396,452 patients, 2.7% were identified with opioid misuse and 1044 had an overdose event. Older patients were less likely to meet misuse criteria or have an overdose. Whites were more likely to be identified with misuse, but not to have an overdose. Alcohol and drug disorders were related to higher risk of misuse and overdose, with the exception that marijuana disorder was not related to opioid misuse. Higher daily opioid dosages and benzodiazepine use increased the risk of both opioid misuse and overdose. We characterized several risk factors associated with misuse and overdose using EHR-based data, which can be leveraged relatively quickly to inform preventive strategies to address the opioid crisis.

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