Opioid Use Disorder Incidence Declines After State Policy Limits Opioid Prescriptions
New diagnoses of opioid use disorder in Vermont steadily lessened, most noticeably in young adults, after the state limited opioid analgesic prescriptions for acute pain in 2017. Researchers reported their findings in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“This study found that the opioid use disorder incidence rate in Vermont decreased overall between July 2017 (policy start limiting opioid analgesic prescriptions) and December 2021, including during the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote corresponding author Valerie S. Harder, PhD, MHS, of the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont, and study coauthors.
Related: Medication Use for OUD Low in Older Adults
The longitudinal analysis of incident opioid use disorder diagnoses included 537,707 individuals aged 16 years and older with medical claims in the all-payer claims database in Vermont between July 1, 2017, and December 31, 2021. Some 2.2% of the study population had an incident opioid use disorder diagnosis during the study period.
Overall, opioid use disorder incidence rates decreased 0.8% per month, the study found. The decline occurred during a period when fatal opioid overdoses and other negative opioid-related outcomes, researchers pointed out, were increasing.
By age group, young adults aged 16 to 29 years had the most pronounced decrease: 1.6% per month, according to the study. Monthly decreases in opioid use disorder incidence were 0.6% among adults aged 30 to 44 years, 0.5% among adults aged 45 to 59 years, and 0.6% among adults aged 60 years and older.
“Opioid prescription policies may reduce availability of prescription opioids,” researchers wrote, “and decrease initiation of opioid analgesic misuse and possible opioid use disorder.”
