Study: 1 In 5 Adults With Opioid Addiction Get Treatment

Study: 1 In 5 Adults With Opioid Addiction Get Treatment

Introduction

Evidence-based treatments for substance use continued to be gravely underutilized as opioid overdose fatalities in the United States hit record highs, a new study showed.

Opioids account for the great majority of drug overdose deaths, and their prevalence has increased recently. According to figures from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, overdoses involving opioids claimed the lives of over 80,000 individuals in 2021.

However, a recent study by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Centre for Injury Prevention found that only about a third of adults with opioid use disorder received any kind of treatment for substance use, and only about 1 in 5 received medication to treat opioid use disorder.

A number of medications, including buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone, have been licenced by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat opioid use disorder, which affects an estimated 2.5 million individuals in the US. These medications can aid with cravings for opiates or block their effects.

The drugs used to treat opioid use disorder are secure and efficient. The head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse indicated that they support rehabilitation and help avoid overdose deaths. For those who are not receiving evidence-based treatment, failing to use safe and life-saving drugs is distressing. It exacerbates health inequities in local communities across the nation, prolongs the overdose catastrophe, and sustains opioid use disorder. The study also discovered significant differences in who received treatment for opioid use disorder.

When it came to receiving medication to treat their opioid use disorder, males were six times more likely than women to do so. Adults without jobs and residents in rural regions were also less likely to get the drug.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration provided flexibility during the Covid-19 outbreak, enabling the prescription of some prohibited drugs, particularly those needed to treat opiate addiction disorder, over telemedicine. Those flexibility periods have been prolonged at least through mid-November.

Additionally, the new study confirms other studies that found telemedicine to increase treatment rates. The researchers discovered that people getting telehealth therapy for drug use disorders were almost 40 times more likely to be prescribed opioid use disorder prescriptions than those who did not.

A nationally representative sample of more than 47,000 individuals who took part in the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services, served as the basis for the data used in the new study.