Table 4.
Detailed characteristics of opioid use, overall and by cancer status
| Overall | Cancer | Non-cancer | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | col% | N | col% | N | col% | p valuea | ||||
| N opioid users | 1811 | 100.0 | 1195 | 100.0 | 616 | 100.0 | ||||
| Duration of opioid use prior to MHOS date | 0.44 | |||||||||
| < 7 days | 827 | 45.7 | 553 | 46.3 | 274 | 44.5 | ||||
| 7–29 days | 288 | 15.9 | 195 | 16.3 | 93 | 15.1 | ||||
| 30+ days | 696 | 38.4 | 447 | 37.4 | 249 | 40.4 | ||||
| MEDD (continuous) | Median | Mean | SE | Median | Mean | SE | Median | Mean | SE | p value |
| Overall by pain interference | 30.0 | 55.7 | 2.0 | 31.3 | 58.3 | 2.7 | 30.0 | 50.7 | 2.6 | 0.04 |
| Severe | 30.0 | 56.5 | 2.7 | 30.0 | 59.4 | 3.7 | 30.0 | 51.5 | 3.3 | 0.12 |
| Moderate | 30.0 | 54.1 | 3.5 | 31.3 | 57.4 | 4.6 | 30.0 | 47.2 | 4.4 | 0.11 |
| Mild/none | 36.6 | 57.0 | 6.4 | 37.5 | 56.3 | 8.2 | 32.1 | 59.0 | 9.9 | 0.83 |
| MEDD—% high or very high (MEDD > 90 mgs) | % | % | % | |||||||
| Overall by pain interference | 14.5 | 15.2 | 13.1 | 0.50 | ||||||
| Severe | 15.6 | 16.6 | 13.8 | 0.46 | ||||||
| Moderate | 13.6 | 14.6 | 11.6 | 0.43 | ||||||
| Mild/none | 12.1 | b | b | |||||||
a
p values reported for comparison of cancer and non-cancer samples
b
Value suppressed because cell size n < 11
MHOS, Medicare Health Outcomes Survey; MEDD, morphine equivalent daily dose. Source: SEER-Medicare-Part D linked data, 2008–2012