Risk of Recent Prescription Opioid Misuse Higher for Bisexual Women Veterans

Bisexual women veterans are at increased risk of having misused prescription opioids over the past 12 months, according to study findings recently published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 

The study analyzed responses for 9729 US military veterans on the 2015–2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Researchers weighted samples to yield nationally representative estimates. They were particularly interested in how opioid misuse differed among veterans who were heterosexual compared with veterans who were lesbian, gay, and bisexual. 

Veterans who were bisexual had greater lifetime odds of misusing prescription opioids compared with veterans who were heterosexual, according to the study. Researchers reported an adjusted odds ratio of 4.04.  

The risk of past 12-month opioid misuse, meanwhile, was elevated only for women veterans who were bisexual. The adjusted odds ratio for that population was 3.47, researchers found.  

While veterans who were 50 and older had a lower risk of lifetime opioid misuse compared with veterans age 18 through 34, older veterans had a greater risk of past 12-month misuse, according to the study, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.23.

“To our knowledge, this study is the first to systematically examine differential risk factors of prescription opioid misuse between heterosexual and non-heterosexual military veterans,” researchers wrote. “Results from this study suggest a critical need for greater investigations into the specific risks of opioid-related substance use for military veterans.” —Jolynn Tumolo