Kaiser Northwest Patient Demographic Characteristics and Comorbid Conditions According to Duration of Opioid Use, 2004*
| Characteristic | No opioids | Acute opioids only† | Episodic opioid use† | Chronic opioid use† | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patients (n) | 10,184 | 10,543 | 404 | 4,883 | — |
| Mean age (years)‡ | 49.1 | 49.1 | 56.6 | 54.6 | <.001 |
| Women§ | 5,529 (54.3) | 5,847 (55.5) | 240 (59.4) | 3,071 (62.9) | <.001 |
| BMI ≥30§ | 3,490 (36.8) | 4,525 (45.4) | 185 (47.2) | 2,403 (50.0) | <.001 |
| Current or recent smoker§ | 3,538 (37.4) | 4,620 (45.9) | 176 (46.3) | 2,476 (52.6) | <.001 |
| Diagnosis during previous year | |||||
| Depression§ | 1,247 (12.2) | 1,839 (17.4) | 95 (23.5) | 1,526 (31.3) | <.001 |
| Anxiety§ | 449 (4.4) | 594 (5.6) | 25 (6.2) | 573 (11.7) | <.001 |
| PTSD§ | 54 (0.5) | 102 (1.0) | 1 (0.3) | 116 (2.4) | <.001 |
| Substance abuse§ | 946 (9.3) | 1,467 (13.9) | 60 (14.9) | 1,233 (25.3) | <.001 |
| Patients with any of the four mental health diagnoses§ | 2,185 (21.5) | 3,108 (29.5) | 146 (36.1) | 2,405 (49.3) | <.001 |
| Median comorbidity score (RxRisk)¶ | 1,276 | 1,580 | 2,464 | 3,366 | <.001 |
Values provided as n (%) unless otherwise indicated.
↵* Approximately 5% of patients had missing values for body mass index and smoking status; the percentages displayed are calculated for those cases that were not missing.
↵† “Acute” use was defined as use ≥90 days. “Episodic” use was defined as use >90 days but <120 days with fewer than 10 prescription fills. “Chronic” use was ≥120 days, or >90 days with ≥10 prescription fills.
↵‡ Generalized linear model F-test.
↵§ Cochrane-Armitage test for trend.
↵¶ Kruskal-Wallis test.
BMI, body mass index; PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder.