Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec 1;64(12):e823-e832.
doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002709. Epub 2022 Sep 22.

Injuries That Happen at Work Lead to More Opioid Prescriptions and Higher Opioid Costs

Abay Asfaw  1 , Brian Quay, Tim Bushnell, Regina Pana-Cryan
Affiliations

Injuries That Happen at Work Lead to More Opioid Prescriptions and Higher Opioid Costs

Abay Asfaw et al. J Occup Environ Med. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to compare opioid prescription incidence, supply days, and cost associated with occupational injury and other injury-caused conditions.

Methods: We used Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data for 2010-2019. The MEPS provides information on medical conditions and associated medical encounters, treatments, and treatment costs, as well as demographic, education, health, working status, income, and insurance coverage information. We used descriptive statistics and logistic and 2-part regressions.

Results: Controlling for covariates and compared with other injury-caused conditions, occupational injury-caused conditions resulted in 33% higher odds of opioid prescribing, 32.8 more opioid prescription supply days, and $134 higher average cost.

Conclusions: Occupational injuries were associated with higher opioid incidence and costs, and more opioid supply days. These findings point to the need to focus on making work safer and the role employers may play in supporting worker recovery from injury and opioid use disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Incidence of opioid prescription (2010–2014 vs 2015–2019) by reported type of injury.
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
Opioid supply days (2010–2014 vs 2015–2019) by reported type of injury.
FIGURE 3.
FIGURE 3.
Opioid cost (2010–2014 vs 2015–2019) by reported type of injury (2022 US$).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Opioid Data Analysis and Resources 2021. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/data/analysis-resources.html. Accessed April 7, 2022.
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Drug Overdose. 2022. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/deaths/index.html. Accessed August 31, 2022.
    1. Guy GP Jr., Zhang K, Schieber LZ, et al. County-level opioid prescribing in the United States, 2015 and 2017. JAMA Intern Med. 2019;179:574–576. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Peppin JF, Coleman JJ, Paladini A, et al. What your death certificate says about you may be wrong: a narrative review on CDC’s efforts to quantify prescription opioid overdose deaths. Cureus. 2021;13:e18012. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Seth P, Rudd RA, Noonan RK, et al. Quantifying the epidemic of prescription opioid overdose deaths. Am J Public Health. 2018;108:500–502. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances