Patterns of prescription opioid abuse and comorbidity in an aging treatment population

• Published in: Journal of substance abuse treatment Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 87 - 94
• Main Authors: Cicero, Theodore J., Ph.D, Surratt, Hilary L., Ph.D, Kurtz, Steven, Ph.D, Ellis, M.S., B.A, Inciardi, James A., Ph.D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 2012; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age; Age and gender influences on opioid treatment; Age Factors; Age-related changes in treatment needs; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Comorbidity; Data Collection; Desintoxication. Drug withdrawal; Drug abuse; Drug addiction; Female; Gender; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - physiopathology; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Multiple drugs; Opioid abuse; Opioid treatment centers; Opioid-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Pain; Pain - epidemiology; Prescription drug abuse; Prescriptions; Psychiatric disorders; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Severity of Illness Index; Sex Factors; Substance abuse treatment; Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology; Substance-Related Disorders - physiopathology; Treatments; Young Adult; Age-related changes in treatment needs; Prescription drug abuse; Age and gender influences on opioid treatment; Opioid abuse; Opioid treatment centers; Human; Prescription; Drug addiction; Center; Sex; Opiates; Substance abuse; Change; Gender; Concomitant disease; Need; Treatment; Addiction; Polypathology; Elderly; Age; Public health
• ISSN: 0740-5472; 1873-6483
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsat.2011.07.003

Abstract Very little is known about the impact of age and gender on drug abuse treatment needs. To examine this, we recruited 2,573 opioid-dependent patients, aged from 18 to 75 years, entering treatment across the country from 2008 to 2010 to complete a self-administered survey examining drug use histories and the extent of comorbid psychiatric and physical disorders. Moderate to very severe pain and psychiatric disorders, including polysubstance abuse, were present in a significant fraction of 18- to 24-year-olds, but their severity grew exponentially as a function of age: 75% of those older than 45 years had debilitating pain and psychiatric problems. Women had more pain than men and much worse psychiatric issues in all age groups. Our results indicate that a “one-size-fits-all” approach to prevention, intervention, and treatment of opioid abuse that ignores the shifting needs of opioid-abusing men and women as they age is destined to fail.