Data on Opioids Discussed by Researchers at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Impact of Iowa’s Prescription Monitoring Program On Opioid Pain Reliever Prescribing Patterns: an Interrupted Time Series Study 2003-2014)

2019 APR 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A new study on Opioids is now available. According to news reporting from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “To evaluate the impact of Iowa’s prescription monitoring program (PMP), implemented in 2009, on opioid pain reliever (OPR) prescribing patterns. We conducted interrupted time series analyses using 2003-2014 health insurance claims from a private health insurer in Iowa.”

Financial support for this research came from National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “OPR prescriptions for all beneficiaries were included. Another data set included only OPR prescription for new opioid users required to have six months of insurance coverage. We evaluate four OPR prescribing patterns: 1) average daily dosage in morphine milligrams equivalents (MME), 2) MME per prescription, 3) average days’ supply per prescription, and 4) prescription rate per 1,000 insured person-years. We examined confounding and effect measure modification of the relationship between PMP and prescribing patterns by age and sex. During the 12years of follow-up, 1,512,388 insured Iowans contributed 6,169,634.92 person-years of follow-up. Of these, 505,274 patients filled 2,401,818 OPR prescriptions and 360,688 new OPR users filled as many first OPR prescriptions. The increasing trend of OPR prescription rates from 2003 to 2009 declined post-PMP. Similarly, there was a large decline in MME per day and MME per prescription. The OPR days’ supply kept increasing post-PMP implementation, albeit at a slightly slower rate than pre-PMP implementation. There was no confounding by age and sex; however, we observed heterogeneity by age and sex; patients aged 50years and females received higher doses and more prescriptions pre-PMP and experienced the greatest declines post-PMP.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Our study suggests that Iowa PMP implementation may have resulted in declines in OPR prescribing, and this impact varies by patient age and sex.”

For more information on this research see: Impact of Iowa’s Prescription Monitoring Program On Opioid Pain Reliever Prescribing Patterns: an Interrupted Time Series Study 2003-2014. Pain Medicine, 2019;20(2):290-300. Pain Medicine can be contacted at: Oxford Univ Press, Great Clarendon St, Oxford OX2 6DP, England. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Pain Medicine - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1526-4637)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting S.I. Ranapurwala, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dept. of Epidemiology, Chapel Hill, NC, United States. Additional authors for this research include R.M. Carnahan, J. Hinman, G. Brown and C. Casteel.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pny029. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)