Prescription opioid analgesic use reported in 6.5 percent of adults

(HealthDay)—Overall, 6.5 percent of adults aged 20 years and older reported using a prescription opioid analgesic in the previous 30 days during 2013 to 2016, according to a report published in the December Health E-Stats, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics.

Steven M. Frenk, Ph.D., from the U.S. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in Atlanta, and colleagues used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to examine the prevalence of prescription opioid analgesic use among U.S. adults.

The researchers found that 6.5 percent of adults aged 20 years and older reported using a prescription opioid analgesic in the previous 30 days in 2013 to 2016. With age, there was an increase in the percentage of adults who used a prescription opioid analgesic, from 3.2 to 7.5 and 9.6 percent among adults aged 20 to 39, 40 to 59, and 60 years and older, respectively. This pattern was seen in both men and women. Compared with men, a higher percentage of women used a prescription opioid analgesic (7.6 versus 5.3 percent); this pattern was seen across all age groups, although the difference was not significant among adults aged 20 to 39 years.

Compared with non-Hispanic Asian and Hispanic adults, non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black adults had higher age-adjusted opioid analgesic use (6.6 and 6.7 percent, respectively, versus 2.0 and 5.3 percent, respectively).