Table 3.

Unadjusted and Adjusted Analysis of Sex Differences in Chronic Opioid Therapy descriptors in VA patients with Chronic Non-Cancer Pain receiving Chronic Opioid Therapy

	Women (n=532) n (%)	Men (n = 5,125) n (%)	Unadjusted OR (95% CI)*	Adjusted OR (95% CI)†
Prescribed High Dose Opioids (≥120mg Morphine Equivalents per Day)	28 (5.3)	268 (5.3)
Women			1.01 (0.73–1.38)	0.95 (0.74–1.21)
Prescribed a Short Acting Opioid Only‡	295 (55.5)	2834 (55.3)
Women			1.00 (0.76–1.33)	1.17 (0.91–1.51)
Prescribed a Long Acting Opioid Only§	63 (11.8)	557 (10.9)
Women			1.10 (0.82–1.48)	0.99 (0.72–1.36)
Prescribed a Short and Long Acting Opioid	174 (32.7)	1734 (33.8)
Women			0.95 (0.75–1.20)	0.85 (0.68–1.07)
Prescribed a Benzodiazepine||	204 (38.3)	1302 (25.4)
Women			1.83 (1.53–2.17)	1.48 (1.14–1.91)
Urine Drug Test Obtained	103 (19.4)	1234 (24.1)
Women			0.76 (0.63–0.90)	0.52 (0.40–0.66)
Sustained a Drug Overdose	7 (1.3)	29 (0.6)
Women			2.34 (0.88–6.25)	2.19 (0.73–6.58)

Note. All analyses clustered by VA VISN-20 Site. In all analyses, the predictor is sex and male is the reference category.

^†Variables in Model: age, average pain score, sex, major depressive disorder, Tobacco use, fibromyalgia, neck pain, arthritis, low back pain, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathy, marital status, race, service Connection, Charlson Comorbidity Index, multiple pain diagnoses, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, other anxiety disorder, alcohol abuse or dependence, cannabis abuse or dependence, opioid abuse or dependence, other drug use or dependence.

^‡Short-acting opioids include codeine sulfate, hydrocodone, hydromorphone immediate-release (IR), morphine IR, oxycodone IR, and propoxyphene

^§Long-acting opioids include methadone, morphine sustained-release, oxycodone controlled-release, and transdermal fentanyl.

^||Benzodiazepines include alprazolam, clonazepam, clordiazepoxide, diazepam, lorazepam, oxazepam, temazepam, and triazolam.