Adolescents With Mental Health Conditions More Likely to Transition to Long-Term Opioid Therapy, Study Finds

Adolescents with preexisting mental health conditions may be more likely than their peers to transition from a first opioid prescription to long-term opioid therapy, according to astudy published this week inJAMA Pediatrics.“Given the limited support for the efficacy of opioid therapy for chronic pain among youths, research is needed to understand potential adverse effects of LTOT [long-term opioid therapy] among adolescents as well as the role that preexisting mental health conditions may play in harmful outcomes,” lead author Patrick D. Quinn, Ph.D., of Indiana University and colleagues wrote.For the study, Quinn and colleagues analyzed data from the 2003-2014 Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters (MarketScan) databases of commercial health care insurance claims. The researchers identified a cohort of more than 1.2 million adolescents aged 14 to 18 who received opioids for the first time during this period. The researchers then tracked this group from their first prescription until their first disenrollment or December 31, 2014 (whichever occurred first), to examine subsequent long-term opioid therapy (defined as more than 90 days ’ supply within a six-month window having no gaps in supply of more than 32 days).Associations between preexisting mental health conditions and treatments and any opioid receipt were examined by comparing adolescents who received any opioid analgesic with those who did not matched on sex, calendar year and years of age of...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: adolescents JAMA Pediatrics long-term opioid therapy mental health Michael Mason opioids Patrick Quinn Source Type: research