Characteristics of Patients Prescribed Long-Term Opioid Therapy, by Urine Drug Testing Status
| Total | No UDT | UDT | p-Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | 5690 | 3474 | 2216 | |
| Sex | 0.78 | |||
| Female | 3520 (61.9%) | 2154 (62.0%) | 1366 (61.6%) | |
| Race | <0.001 | |||
| White | 4312 (75.8%) | 2669 (76.8%) | 1643 (74.1%) | |
| Black | 559 (9.8%) | 297 (8.5%) | 262 (11.8%) | |
| Asian | 154 (2.7%) | 109 (3.1%) | 45 (2.0%) | |
| Other | 665 (11.7%) | 399 (11.5%) | 266 (12.0%) | |
| Age | <0.001 | |||
| <30 | 130 (2.3%) | 96 (2.8%) | 34 (1.5%) | |
| 30 to 49 | 1085 (19.1%) | 650 (18.7%) | 435 (19.6%) | |
| 50 to 64 | 2260 (39.7%) | 1332 (38.3%) | 928 (41.9%) | |
| 65 to 84 | 1993 (35.0%) | 1232 (35.5%) | 761 (34.3%) | |
| 85+ | 222 (3.9%) | 164 (4.7%) | 58 (2.6%) | |
| Medicaid insurance | 152 (2.7%) | 118 (3.4%) | 34 (1.5%) | <0.001 |
| English speaking | 5514 (96.9%) | 3351 (96.5%) | 2163 (97.6%) | 0.015 |
| No. opioid prescriptions, median (IQR) | 7.0 (4.0, 12.0) | 6.0 (4.0, 10.0) | 11.0 (7.0, 14.0) | <0.001 |
| Max. daily dose opioids, mean (SD) | 83.6 (257.3) | 75.6 (137.3) | 96.0 (374.5) | 0.004 |
| No. office visits/year, median (IQR) | 9.0 (5.0, 15.0) | 9.0 (5.0, 15.0) | 10.0 (6.0, 15.0) | 0.14 |
| Prescriber specialty | <0.001 | |||
| Family Medicine | 3289 (57.8%) | 2004 (57.7%) | 1285 (58.0%) | |
| Internal Medicine | 1482 (26.0%) | 727 (20.9%) | 755 (34.1%) | |
| Specialist | 919 (16.2%) | 743 (21.4%) | 176 (7.9%) | |
| Female prescriber | 2871 (50.5%) | 1709 (49.2%) | 1162 (52.4%) | 0.017 |
Notes: Sample represents 5690 individual patients within a large primary care network prescribed at least 3 months of opioid therapy. All data extracted from electronic medical record.
Abbreviations: UDT: urine drug test; Max daily dose, highest MME (morphine milliequivalent) per day during the study year; IQR, interquartile range; SD, standard deviation.