Over the past two decades, the number of opioid pain relievers sold in the United States has risen dramatically, and the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths has also increased (see the map below for 2013 data by states.) In response, 49 states (all but Missouri, excluding the District of Columbia) have created prescription drug monitoring programs, to detect high-risk prescribing and patient behaviors.
A new study, released as a Web First by Health Affairs, a retrospective review of these programs, found that their implementation was associated with the prevention of one opioid-related overdose death every two hours on average nationwide. Additionally, the authors noted that states whose programs had robust characteristics—including monitoring greater numbers of drugs with abuse potential and updating their data at least weekly—had greater reductions in deaths — 1.55 fewer deaths per 100,000 population. In their study, the authors Stephen W. Patrick, Carrie E. Fry, Timothy Jones, and Melinda B. Buntin, used an interrupted time-series design with data derived from multiple public sources; their analysis unit was the state-by-state pair.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Prevention for States program has set the goal of making data from these programs more timely, but program funding has been inconsistent.
"Our findings provide support for bolstering prescription drug monitoring programs and establishing a consistent and predictable funding source for them," the authors concluded. "As the use of these programs becomes more common and consistent, their effect on decreasing the prescription opioid epidemic is likely to grow."
Patrick and Fry, are affiliated with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, in Nashville, Tennessee; Jones is with the Tennessee Department of Health, in Nashville., and Buntin is with Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
This study, which will also appear in the July issue of Health Affairs, was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
from Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog http://ift.tt/28O02Xm
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