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TUESDAY, March 13, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Adolescents with pre-existing mental health conditions and treatments are more likely to receive any opioid and to transition to long-term opioid therapy, according to a study published online March 12 in JAMA Pediatrics<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Patrick D. Quinn, Ph.D., from Indiana University in Bloomington, and colleagues examined how mental health conditions and treatments are associated with initiation of any opioid and long-term opioid therapy in a cohort of 1,224,520 incident opioid recipients aged 14 to 18 years at first receipt who did not have cancer diagnoses at first receipt. Recipients were compared with non-recipients matched on sex, calendar year, and years of age of first enrollment, and months of enrollment.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that the likelihood of receiving any opioid was increased for adolescents with anxiety, mood, neurodevelopmental, sleep, and non-opioid substance use disorders and most mental health treatments (odds ratios, 1.13 to 1.69). The cumulative incidence of long-term opioid therapy was 3 per 1,000 recipients within three years after first opioid receipt among the 81.7 percent of opioid recipients with at least six months of follow-up. There was a strong association for all pre-existing mental health conditions and treatments with higher rates of long-term opioid therapy (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.73 to 8.9).<\/p>\n
“Commercially insured adolescents with many types of pre-existing mental health conditions and treatments were modestly more likely to receive any opioid and were substantially more likely to subsequently transition to long-term opioid therapy,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
One author disclosed serving as a paid expert witness in cases involving the U.S. Department of Justice and several pharmaceutical companies.<\/p>\n
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