%0 Journal Article %A Laura S. Gold %A Zachary A. Marcum %A Eric N. Meier %A Judith A. Turner %A Kathryn T. James %A David F. Kallmes %A Patrick H. Luetmer %A Brent Griffith %A Karen J. Sherman %A Janna L. Friedly %A Pradeep Suri %A Richard A. Deyo %A Sandra K. Johnston %A Andrew L. Avins %A Patrick J. Heagerty %A Jeffrey G. Jarvik %T Patient, Provider, and Clinic Characteristics Associated with Opioid and Non-Opioid Pain Prescriptions for Patients Receiving Low Back Imaging in Primary Care %D 2021 %R 10.3122/jabfm.2021.05.210033 %J The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine %P 950-963 %V 34 %N 5 %X Background: To describe characteristics of patients, providers, and clinics associated with opioid or non-opioid pain medication prescribing patterns for patients who received lower spine imaging in primary care clinics.Methods: In these secondary analyses of the Lumbar Imaging with Reporting of Epidemiology (LIRE) study, a randomized controlled trial conducted in 4 health systems in the United States, we evaluated characteristics associated with receipt of pain medication prescriptions. The outcomes were receipt of prescriptions for opioid or, separately, non-opioid pain medications within 90 days after imaging. Among patients who received opioid or non-opioid prescriptions, we evaluated receipt of multiple prescriptions in the year following imaging. Mixed models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: Compared with whites, patients identified as Asian (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.51–0.56), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.64–0.83), multiracial (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.71–0.98) or Black (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.89–0.96) had significantly reduced odds for receiving prescriptions for opioids within 90 days. Patients identified as Native American/Alaska Native had greater odds for receiving prescriptions for non-opioid pain medications within 90 days (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01–1.24). Receipt of pain prescriptions 120 days before imaging was strongly predictive of subsequent receipt of pain prescriptions across all categories.Conclusions: After adjusting for factors that could affect prescribing, the strongest differences observed in pain-medication prescribing were across racial categories and for patients with previous pain prescriptions. Further research is needed to understand these differences and to optimize prescribing. %U https://www.jabfm.org/content/jabfp/34/5/950.full.pdf