Prescription Opioid Use among Adults with Mental Health Disorders in the United States
Open accessAbstract
Background: The extent to which adults with mental health disorders in the United States receive opioids has not been adequately reported. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of a nationally representative sample of the noninstitutionalized U.S. adult population from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We examined the relationship between mental health (mood and anxiety) disorders and prescription opioid use (defined as receiving at least 2 prescriptions in a calendar year). Results: We estimate that among the 38.6 million Americans with mental health disorders, 18.7% (7.2 million of 38.6 million) use prescription opioids. Adults with mental health conditions receive 51.4% (60 million of 115 million prescriptions) of the total opioid prescriptions distributed in the United States each year. Compared with adults without mental health disorders, adults with mental health disorders were significantly more likely to use opioids (18.7% vs 5.0%; P < .001). In adjusted analyses, having a mental health disorder was associated with prescription opioid use overall (odds ratio, 2.08; 95% confidence interval, 1.83–2.35). Conclusions: The 16% of Americans who have mental health disorders receive over half of all opioids prescribed in the United States. Improving pain management among this population is critical to reduce national dependency on opioids.
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In the US, people with mood or anxiety disorders make up 16% of the population but receive 51.4% of opioid prescriptions.
“Estimates suggest that 51.4% of the opioid prescriptions in the United States are received by the 16% of Americans who have a mood or anxiety disorder”
From Mechanisms of ketamine and its metabolites as antidepressants (2022) · cites this paper as Davis et al., 2017
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- Authors
- Davis, M. A., Lin, L. A., Liu, H., & Sites, B. D.
- Affiliations
- Dartmouth College (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
- Published
- 2017-07
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 407-417
- ISSN
- 1557-2625 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-7118
- OpenAlex
- W2739081735
- Cited by
- 270
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 6
- FWCI
- 28.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- prescription opioid use, mental illness, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, opioid prescribing, pain management, opioid use disorder
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analgesics, Opioid, Mental Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Drug Utilization, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, United States, Prescription Drugs
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