Table 3.
Medication-related and demographic characteristics at receipt of first opioid of patients who received single vs. multiple prescriptions
| Full Sample N= 42,020 |
Single opioid N=28,911 |
Multiple opioid N= 13,109 |
Relative risk for multiple opioids | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | (95% CI) | |
| Year of first prescription | |||||||
| 2005† | 1,733 | 4.1% | 1047 | 3.6% | 686 | 5.2% | REF |
| 2006 | 3,431 | 8.2% | 2182 | 7.5% | 1249 | 9.5% | .92 (.85-.99) |
| 2007 | 4,374 | 10.4% | 2827 | 9.8% | 1547 | 11.8% | .89 (.83-.96) |
| 2008 | 4,439 | 10.6% | 2858 | 9.9% | 1581 | 12.1% | .90 (.84-.97) |
| 2009 | 4,280 | 10.2% | 2807 | 9.7% | 1473 | 11.2% | .87 (.81-.93) |
| 2010 | 4,128 | 9.8% | 2827 | 9.8% | 1301 | 9.9% | .80 (.74-.86) |
| 2011 | 3,940 | 9.4% | 2754 | 9.5% | 1186 | 9.0% | .76 (.71-.82) |
| 2012 | 3,574 | 8.5% | 2543 | 8.8% | 1031 | 7.9% | .73 (.67-.79) |
| 2013 | 3,503 | 8.3% | 2522 | 8.7% | 981 | 7.5% | .71 (.65-.77) |
| 2014 | 3,153 | 7.5% | 2315 | 8.0% | 838 | 6.4% | .67 (.62-.73) |
| 2015 | 2,777 | 6.6% | 2044 | 7.1% | 733 | 5.6% | .67 (.61-.73) |
| 2016 | 2,688 | 6.5% | 2185 | 7.6% | 503 | 3.8% | .47 (.43-.52) |
| Total opioid prescriptions | |||||||
| 1 | 28,911 | 68.8% | 28,911 | 100% | -- | -- | -- |
| 2 | 7,460 | 17.8% | -- | -- | 7,460 | 56.9% | -- |
| 3 | 2,734 | 6.5% | -- | -- | 2,734 | 20.9% | -- |
| 4 or more | 2,915 | 6.9% | -- | -- | 2,915 | 22.2% | -- |
| First opioid prescription type | |||||||
| Oxycodone† | 19,318 | 46.0% | 12547 | 43.4% | 6771 | 51.6% | REF |
| Hydrocodone | 15,331 | 36.5% | 11120 | 38.5% | 4211 | 32.1% | .78 (.76-.81) |
| Codeine | 6,907 | 16.4% | 5006 | 17.3% | 1901 | 14.5% | .79 (.75-.82) |
| Tramadol | 253 | 0.6% | 154 | 0.5% | 99 | 0.8% | 1.12 (.96–1.30) |
| Morphine | 150 | 0.4% | 57 | 0.2% | 93 | 0.7% | 1.77 (1.56–2.01) |
| Fentanyl | 16 | <.1% | 6 | 0.02% | 10 | 0.01% | 1.78 (1.22–2.61) |
| Other | 45 | .1% | 21 | 0.1% | 24 | 0.2% | 1.52 (1.16–2.00) |
| Age | |||||||
| Early childhood (0–5 years) † | 7,432 | 17.7% | 5780 | 20.0% | 1652 | 12.6% | REF |
| School age (6–11 years) | 6,790 | 16.2% | 4829 | 16.7% | 1961 | 15.0% | 1.30 (1.23–1.37) |
| Adolescent (12–17 years) | 11,471 | 27.3% | 7240 | 25.0% | 4231 | 32.3% | 1.66 (1.58–1.52) |
| Young-adult (18–21 years) | 16,327 | 38.9% | 11,062 | 38.3% | 5265 | 40.2% | 1.45 (1.38–1.52) |
| Sex | |||||||
| Female † | 18,927 | 45.0% | 12,974 | 44.9% | 5,953 | 45.4% | REF |
| Male | 23,093 | 55.0% | 15,937 | 55.1% | 7,156 | 54.6% | .99 (.96–1.01) |
| Ethnicity | |||||||
| Not Hispanic/ Lantinx† | 11,496 | 27.4% | 7618 | 26.3% | 3878 | 29.6% | REF |
| Hispanic/ Lantinx | 21,044 | 50.1% | 14364 | 49.7% | 6681 | 51.0% | .94 (.91-.97) |
| Not reported | 9,480 | 22.5% | 6929 | 24.0% | 2550 | 19.5% | -- |
| Race | |||||||
| White† | 19,985 | 48.3% | 13,239 | 46.5% | 6746 | 52.2% | REF |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 4553 | 11.0% | 3144 | 11.0% | 1409 | 10.9% | .92 (.87-.96) |
| Black/African American | 1292 | 3.1% | 835 | 2.9% | 457 | 3.5% | 1.05 (.97–1.13) |
| Two or More Races | 539 | 1.3% | 372 | 1.3% | 167 | 1.3% | .92 (.81–1.04) |
| Asian | 415 | 1.0% | 313 | 1.1% | 102 | 0.8% | .73 (.61-.86) |
| Hawaiian Native/ Pacific Islander | 96 | 0.2% | 65 | 0.2% | 31 | 0.2% | .96 (.72–1.28) |
| Other | 3295 | 8.0% | 2579 | 9.1% | 716 | 5.5% | -- |
| Decline to answer/ unavailable | 11,241 | 27.1% | 7946 | 27.9% | 3295 | 25.5% | -- |
| Primary language | |||||||
| English† | 37,243 | 88.9% | 25,455 | 88.3% | 11,788 | 90.2% | REF |
| Spanish | 3,755 | 8.9% | 2776 | 9.6% | 979 | 7.5% | .82 (.78-.87) |
| Other/ Not reported | 894 | 2.1% | 588 | 2.0% | 306 | 2.3% | -- |
| Encounter type | |||||||
| Outpatient† | 5,401 | 12.9% | 3272 | 11.3% | 2129 | 16.3% | REF |
| Emergency | 14,954 | 35.6% | 11,017 | 38.1% | 3937 | 30.0% | .67 (.64-.70) |
| Discharge from inpatient | 12,364 | 29.4% | 7682 | 26.6% | 4682 | 35.7% | .96 (.92–1.00) |
| Day surgery | 9,301 | 22.1% | 6940 | 24.0% | 2361 | 18.0% | .64 (.61-.68) |
| Payer status | |||||||
| Private/ Commercial† | 14,116 | 33.6% | 9619 | 33.2% | 4497 | 34.2% | REF |
| Public/ Government assistance | 21,027 | 50.1% | 14,304 | 49.5% | 6723 | 51.3% | 1.00 (.97–1.04) |
| Uninsured | 6863 | 16.3% | 4981 | 17.2% | 1882 | 14.4% | .86( .82-.90) |
| Non-opioid drugs co-prescribed | |||||||
| Benzodiazepines | 1,465 | 3.5% | 718 | 2.48% | 747 | 5.70% | -- |
| Muscle Relaxant | 618 | 1.5% | 394 | 1.36% | 224 | 1.71% | -- |
| SSRI/ SNRI | 163 | 0.4% | 74 | 0.26% | 89 | 0.68% | -- |
| Anticonvulsants | 19 | <.1% | 10 | 0.03% | 9 | 0.07% | -- |
| Tricyclic anti-depressants | 18 | <.1% | 7 | 0.02% | 11 | 0.08% | -- |
| Barbiturates | 8 | <.1% | 5 | 0.02% | 3 | 0.02% | -- |
†
Patients with this characteristic served as the reference group; CI denotes confidence interval; Bold values indicate statistically significant values based on the CI. RR for receiving multiple opioids in patients who also received non-opioid drugs was not calculated, as there is not a hypothesis driven rationale for identifying a reference group.