New Findings in Opioids Described from University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Individual and Health Policy Factors Associated With Positive Heroin and Opioid Treatment Response: United States, 2018): Opioids

2022 MAR 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Opioids is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Little Rock, Arkansas, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “To identify client- and state-level factors associated with positive treatment response among heroin and opioid treatment episodes in the United States. We used national data from 46 states using the Treatment Episode Dataset-Discharges (2018) to identify heroin and opioid treatment episodes (n = 162 846).”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, “We defined positive treatment response as a decrease in use between admission and discharge. We used multivariable regression, stratified by race/ethnicity, to identify demographic, pain-related, and state-level factors associated with positive treatment response. Lower community distress was the strongest predictor of better treatment outcomes across all racial/ethnic groups, particularly among White and American Indian/Alaska Native episodes. A primary opioid of heroin was associated with worse outcomes among White and Hispanic episodes. Legislation limiting opioid dispensing was associated with better outcomes among Hispanic episodes. Buprenorphine availability was strongly associated with better outcomes among Black episodes. State-level variables, particularly community distress, had greater associations with positive treatment outcomes than client-level variables. Public Health Implications.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Changes in state-level policies and increased resources directed toward areas of high community distress have the potential to improve opioid use disorder treatment and reduce racial/ethnic disparities in treatment outcomes.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Individual and Health Policy Factors Associated With Positive Heroin and Opioid Treatment Response: United States, 2018. American Journal of Public Health, 2022;112. American Journal of Public Health can be contacted at: Amer Public Health Assoc Inc, 800 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001-3710, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting George Pro, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Dept. of Health Behavior and Health Education, Little Rock, AR 72201, United States. Additional authors for this research include Nickolas Zoller, Corey Hayes, Clare C. Brown and Johnathan Goree.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2021.306503. 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.

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