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Researchers from the College of Missouri Faculty of Drugs have make clear which populations usually tend to be prescribed a excessive dose of opioid treatment. This will increase their danger of growing opioid use dysfunction.
The findings are revealed within the Journal of Opioid Administration.
Opioids like hydrocodone or oxycodone are usually prescribed to alleviate intense ache. A prescription can develop into an dependancy; unintended effects embrace constructing a tolerance to the treatment—so the affected person has to take a better dose to really feel reduction—or changing into bodily depending on the drug. These results can occur shortly, even when taking opioids as prescribed.
“Many factors increase the risk of developing opioid use disorder,” examine creator Mirna Becevic mentioned. “These include the severity of pain itself, how long opioids are used, their dosage and other medical conditions, such as neurologic or mental health disorders.”
To find out the populations most at-risk, Becevic and her workforce combed by over 3 million information of Medicaid claims in Missouri from 2017 to 2021. The examine had a complete of 306,432 observations, which have been in contrast towards 2018 U.S. census information and information from 2020 detailing the first care scarcity.
Becevic and her workforce discovered that male sufferers and folks within the center age vary as much as 60 years previous have been extra more likely to be prescribed a excessive dose of opioids. They noticed a extra conservative prescribing sample for youthful adults, which can be due to elevated consciousness in regards to the opioid epidemic.
“Incidence of chronic pain increases with age, which may have affected the prescribing patterns we saw,” Becevic mentioned. “Interestingly, the risk of prescriptions past age 60 sharply declined, though this could be because of the increased risk of adverse effects and potential drug interactions.”
Researchers additionally decided that areas with the biggest danger of high-dose opioids correlated with areas that tended to be extra city and had greater percentages of veterans and first care suppliers.
“These findings emphasize the need for public health strategies to address the opioid crisis,” Becevic mentioned. “Opportunities are available for clinicians interested in learning more about evidence-based treatment for pain and opioid use disorder, including our Show Me ECHO program.”
Whereas present medical pointers say high-dose opioid prescriptions ought to be prevented, it stays a typical follow in sure areas. For the reason that examine used solely Missouri information, Becevic says the findings will not be related to different populations in the US.
“Other states and regions have their own unique demographics, policies and health care access,” Becevic mentioned. “Further studies should investigate long-term trends and why doctors prescribe high-dose opioids. Our study’s findings, however, help identify risk factors for all Missouri patients.”
Mirna Becevic, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of dermatology on the MU Faculty of Drugs. Her analysis focuses on telemedicine and telehealth.
Extra info:
Olabode B. Ogundele et al, Figuring out high-dose opioid prescription dangers utilizing machine studying: A give attention to sociodemographic traits, Journal of Opioid Administration (2025). DOI: 10.5055/jom.0924
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City areas in Missouri have greater charges of high-dose opioid prescriptions, examine finds (2025, Might 21)
retrieved 21 Might 2025
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