Top 4 states with highest opioid use
by Fred Hosier December 24, 2014 Comments (0)
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A new study says 41 of the 50 cities with the highest prevalence of opioid use are in four states in one U.S. region.
Those states are Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia and Arkansas – all in the southeast, according to the report, A Nation in Pain, from mail-order pharmacy Express Scripts.
Higher opioid use in less populated southern cities could be the result of a variety of factors, including:
prevalence of chronic and debilitating diseases that impact the southern region of the country, including obesity and diabetes which often have associated pain that may require opioid treatment, and
less access to clinical care, particularly specialists – opioids may be prescribed more frequently when there are limited care alternatives.
Of the 25 cities with the highest prevalence of longer-term opioid use, 24 have populations below 100,000.
The largest U.S. cities have opioid rates below the national average. However, they have a higher proportion of users taking very high doses of these drugs.
A report earlier this year from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed similar results. In the CDC’s report, the top 5 states for painkiller prescriptions per 100 people in 2012 were Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma.
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