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Cited by 1,152Opioid Use Disorder TreatmentSubstance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesHealthcare Policy and Management

The economic burden of prescription opioid overdose, abuse and dependence in the United States, 2013

Open access
Florence, Curtis S., Zhou, Chao, Luo, Feijun, Xu, Likang·2016·Medical Care
DOI 10.1097/mlr.0000000000000625PMC PMC5975355
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Abstract

Importance: It is important to understand the magnitude and distribution of the economic burden of prescription opioid overdose, abuse, and dependence to inform clinical practice, research, and other decision makers. Decision makers choosing approaches to address this epidemic need cost information to evaluate the cost effectiveness of their choices. Objective: To estimate the economic burden of prescription opioid overdose, abuse, and dependence from a societal perspective. Design, Setting, and Participants: Incidence of fatal prescription opioid overdose from the National Vital Statistics System, prevalence of abuse and dependence from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. Fatal data are for the US population, nonfatal data are a nationally representative sample of the US civilian noninstitutionalized population ages 12 and older. Cost data are from various sources including health care claims data from the Truven Health MarketScan Research Databases, and cost of fatal cases from the WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) cost module. Criminal justice costs were derived from the Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts published by the Department of Justice. Estimates of lost productivity were based on a previously published study. Exposure: Calendar year 2013. Main Outcomes and Measures: Monetized burden of fatal overdose and abuse and dependence of prescription opioids. Results: The total economic burden is estimated to be $78.5 billion. Over one third of this amount is due to increased health care and substance abuse treatment costs ($28.9 billion). Approximately one quarter of the cost is borne by the public sector in health care, substance abuse treatment, and criminal justice costs. Conclusions and Relevance: These estimates can assist decision makers in understanding the magnitude of adverse health outcomes associated with prescription opioid use such as overdose, abuse, and dependence.

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Crossref · 10.1097/mlr.0000000000000625

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  • Prior economic-burden studies feature many of these domains, and they are viewed as key drivers of SUD social costs, including costs from alcohol use disorders and smoking.

    “many of these domains are featured in existing studies of the economic burden of SUDs”

    From Monetary conversion factors for economic evaluations of substance use disorders (2017) · cites this paper as Florence et al., 2016

  • This is a change from previously published estimates, where a large share of costs was attributable to OUD.

    “This is a change from previously published estimates, where a large share of costs was attributable to opioid use disorder (Birnbaum et al., 2011; Florence et al., 2016; Rice et al., 2014).”

    From The economic burden of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in the United States, 2017 (2021) · cites this paper as Florence et al., 2016

  • In the source study, matching controlled for basic demographic variables, health status was matched based on the Charlson comorbidity index and prior health care costs, and regression models controlled for skewness in expenditure data.

    “Matching controlled for basic demographic variables, health status was matched based on the Charlson comorbidity index and health care costs prior to use disorder diagnosis, and regression models controlled for skewness in the expenditure data.”

    From The economic burden of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in the United States, 2017 (2021) · cites this paper as Florence et al., 2016

  • The original source study used a matched case-control design to estimate the impact of OUD diagnoses on health care spending.

    “The original source study used a matched case-control design to estimate the impact of opioid use disorder diagnoses on health care spending.”

    From The economic burden of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in the United States, 2017 (2021) · cites this paper as Florence et al., 2016

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1 of the 15 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [14]Manning WG Modeling Cost and Expenditure for Healthcare A2 - Culyer, Anthony J Encyclopedia of Health Economics San Diego Elsevier 2014 299 305

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Authors
Florence, C. S., Zhou, C., Luo, F., & Xu, L.
Affiliations
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US)
ORCID
Venue
Medical Care
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Published
2016-10
Volume
54
Issue
10
Pages
901-906
ISSN
0025-7079 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1097/mlr.0000000000000625
PMC
PMC5975355
OpenAlex
W2519105412
Cited by
1,152
References
15
Citations by year
2026: 30 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 79 · 2022: 125 · 2021: 195 · 2020: 265 · 2019: 185 · 2018: 128 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 5 · 2014: 1
FWCI
119.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Medical Care (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institutes of Health (CC999999)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Healthcare Policy and Management
Keywords
prescription opioid overdose, opioid abuse, opioid use disorder, economic burden, social costs, health care costs, criminal justice costs, productivity loss, fatal overdose, opioid epidemic
MeSH terms
Absenteeism, Prescription Drug Overuse, Criminal Law, Female, Humans, Male, Opioid-Related Disorders, United States, Health Care Costs, Cost of Illness, Prescription Drug Misuse

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