The prevalence of opioid medication use among adults in the United States

Peter M. Mullins, MD, MA, MPH; Christopher J. Gilligan, MD, MBA; Neil Bhattacharyya, MD

doi:10.5055/jom.2022.0745

Authors

Peter M. Mullins, MD, MA, MPH https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9626-4734
Christopher J. Gilligan, MD, MBA https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4769-9907
Neil Bhattacharyya, MD

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jom.2022.0745

Keywords:

opioids, prevalence, pain management

Abstract

Objective: More than one in five American adults experiences chronic pain, and numerous approaches can be used to treat chronic pain. Opioid analgesics are commonly used to treat pain though precise estimates of the prevalence of opioid analgesic use vary widely. This study sought to determine the prevalence of opioid use for pain among adults in the United States.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the National Health Interview Survey, a national-level household-based annual survey of self-reported health status of US adults, using a chronic pain module introduced in the 2019 edition. We examined overall rates of opioid medication use for pain and correlates of opioid use using survey-weighted analyses.

Results: We found 30.8 million adults (95 percent CI: 29.3-32.3 million), or 12.3 percent (11.8-12.8) of the population, had used opioids for pain in the preceding 12 months, while 9.3 million (8.6-10.0 million), or 3.7 percent (3.5-4.0), had used opioids for chronic pain in the preceding 3 months. Individuals reporting pain every day were more likely to have used opioids than those experiencing pain less frequently. Individuals who had tried other methods such as physical therapy and self-management programs were more likely to have used opioids. Individuals who used opioids for pain were more likely to report poorly controlled pain, with 38.0 percent (31.5-45.0) reporting their pain management was “not at all effective.”

Conclusions: Opioid use for chronic pain is common and frequently part of a multimodal and multidisciplinary approach.

Author Biographies

Peter M. Mullins, MD, MA, MPH

Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts

Christopher J. Gilligan, MD, MBA

Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts

Neil Bhattacharyya, MD

Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear & Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

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