Table 1.
Summary statistics of prevalence of concurrency* among opioid users and possible high-risk markers.
| Characteristic (among opioid users) | N (%) | Prevalence of concurrency within characteristic. Percent (n)† | Prevalence of concurrency among all opioid users. Percent (n=547 709) | Percent of concurrent users (n) |
| Opioid users | 547 709 (100) | 17.6 (96 581)‡ | --- | --- |
| Gender | ||||
| Male | 255 293 (46.6) | 14.9 (37 955) | 6.9 | 39.3 (37 955) |
| Female | 292 396 (53.4) | 20.0 (58 620) | 10.7 | 60.7 (58 620) |
| Average daily OME§ | ||||
| <50 | 468 863 (87.7) | 15.7 (73 411) | 13.7 | 80.2 (73 411) |
| 50-90 | 51 033 (9.5) | 22.1 (11 287) | 2.1 | 12.3 (11 287) |
| >90 | 14 933 (2.8) | 46.2 (6899) | 1.3 | 7.5 (6899) |
| Duration of opioid use¶ | ||||
| Chronic | 108 604 (19.8) | 47.1 (51 214) | 9.4 | 53.0 (51 214) |
| Intermittent | 439 105 (80.2) | 10.3 (45 367) | 8.3 | 47.0 (45 367) |
| ODT | 9139 (1.7) | 37.2 (3401) | 0.62 | 3.5 (3401) |
| Not on ODT | 538 570 (98.3) | 17.3 (93 180) | 17.1 | 96.5 (93 180) |
| Postal code zone | ||||
| Rural | 85 666 (15.6) | 22.0 (18 809) | 3.4 | 19.5 (18 809) |
| Urban | 462 043 (84.4) | 16.8 (77 772) | 14.2 | 80.5 (77 772) |
| Median household income (x1000) | ||||
| <50 | 107 240 (19.6) | 23.1 (24 781) | 4.5 | 25.7 (24 781) |
| 50-75 | 261 354 (47.2) | 17.9 (46 725) | 8.5 | 48.4 (46 725) |
| 75-100 | 151 352 (27.6) | 14.2 (21 496) | 3.9 | 22.3 (21 496) |
| 100-125 | 27 314 (5.0) | 12.9 (3514) | 0.6 | 3.6 (3514) |
| >125 | 448 (0.08) | 14.5 (65) | 0.01 | 0.07 (65) |
| # of unique dispensing pharmacies | ||||
| 1 | 426 557 (77.9) | 12.0 (51 413) | 9.4 | 53.2 (51 413) |
| 2 | 82 048 (15.0) | 31.1 (25 550) | 4.7 | 26.4 (25 550) |
| 3 | 23 155 (4.2) | 45.3 (10 482) | 1.9 | 11.0 (10 482) |
| 4 | 8260 (1.5) | 53.1 (4387) | 0.8 | 4.5 (4387) |
| 5+ | 7689 (1.4) | 61.8 (4749) | 0.88 | 4.9 (4749) |
| # of unique prescribers | ||||
| 1 | 352 596 (64.4) | 7.1 (25 158) | 4.6 | 26.0 (25 158) |
| 2 | 107 347 (19.6) | 25.9 (27 805) | 5.1 | 28.8 (27 805) |
| 3 | 42 656 (7.8) | 42.2 (17 990) | 3.3 | 18.6 (17 990) |
| 4 | 20 126 (3.7) | 50.5 (10 163) | 1.9 | 10.5 (10 163) |
| 5+ | 24 984 (4.6) | 61.9 (15 465) | 2.8 | 16.0 (15 465) |
| Age | ||||
| 0-17 | 20 366 (3.7) | 1.5 (307) | 0.06 | 0.3 (307) |
| 18-65 | 429 259 (78.4) | 16.3 (70 000) | 12.8 | 72.5 (70 000) |
| >65 | 98 083 (17.9) | 26.8 (26 274) | 4.8 | 27.2 (26 274) |
| Number of benzodiazepine DDD’s | ||||
| 0-1 | 94 192 (71.3) | 67.4 (63 531) | 11.6 | 65.8 (63 531) |
| 1-2 | 30 423 (23.0) | 86.7 (26 370) | 4.8 | 27.3 (26 370) |
| 2-3 | 4761 (3.6) | 89.1 (4243) | 0.77 | 4.4 (4243) |
| >3 | 2780 (2.1) | 87.7 (2437) | 0.44 | 2.5 (2437) |
*Concurrency is defined as one or more days of overlap between an opioid and benzodiazepine receptor modulator.
†P value for X2 test of independence (difference between prevalence of concurrency between groups within characteristic) <0.001 for all characteristics.
‡95% CI for prevalence of concurrency=17.5 to 17.7.
§Methadone and buprenorphine patients were excluded.
¶Chronic opioid users were defined by having at least 90 days of cumulative opioid use or at least 10 opioid prescriptions in the year. This includes ODT patients.
DDD, daily defined doses; ODT, opioid dependence treatment; OME, oral morphine equivalent.