Populations at Risk

Objective

To describe the rate of inappropriate utilization, abuse, and diversion in a population of chronic pain patients who were prescribed chronic opioids, as measured by urine drug testing in the clinical setting.

Results

Data from 938,586 patient test results showed that likely nonadherence and drug misuse are very common across all age and demographic groups of patients on chronic opioid therapy.

Additional Findings:

• 38% of patients had no detectable level of their prescribed medication.
• 29% of patients had a nonprescribed medication present.
• 27% had a drug level higher than expected.
• 15% had a drug level lower than expected.
• 11% had illicit drugs detected in their urine.^1*

The high observed rate of likely non-adherence demonstrates a significant clinical concern and confirms the importance of periodic urine drug screening for the population prescribed long-term opioid therapy.