High‐risk opioid analgesic dispensing to adolescents 12–18 years old in South Carolina: 2010–2017

• Published in: Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety 2022-03, Vol.31 (3), p.353-360
• Main Authors: Basco, William T., McCauley, Jenna L., Zhang, Jingwen, Marsden, Justin E., Simpson, Kit N., Heidari, Khosrow, Mauldin, Patrick D., Ball, Sarah J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Analgesics, Opioid - therapeutic use; Child; Drug Prescriptions; Humans; opioid; patient safety; Practice Patterns, Physicians; Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs; Retrospective Studies; South Carolina
• ISSN: 1053-8569; 1099-1557
• DOI: 10.1002/pds.5389

Purpose To evaluate “high‐risk” opioid dispensing to adolescents, including daily morphine milligram equivalents (MME) above recommended amounts, the percentage of extended‐release opioid prescriptions dispensed to opioid‐naïve adolescents, and concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines, and to evaluate changes in those rates over time. Methods Retrospective cohort study of one state's prescription drug monitoring program data (2010–2017), evaluating adolescents 12–18 years old dispensed opioid analgesic prescriptions. Outcomes of interest were the quarterly frequencies of the high‐risk measures. We utilized generalized linear regression to determine whether the rate of the outcomes changed over time. Results The quarterly percentage of adolescents ages 12–18 years old dispensed an opioid who received ≥90 daily MME declined from 4.1% in the first quarter (Q1) of 2010 to 3.4% in the final quarter (Q4) of 2017 (p  0.10 overall change 2010–2017). The percentage of adolescent opioid days overlapping with benzodiazepine days was 1.6% in Q1 of 2010, declining to 1.1% by Q4 of 2017 (p