Racial Differences in Primary Care Opioid Risk Reduction Strategies

The Article in Brief

Racial Differences in Primary Care Opioid Risk Reduction Strategies

Barbara J. Turner , and colleagues

Background Previous research has found that doctors are less likely to prescribe opioid analgesics for pain to black patients when compared with white patients, in spite of findings that whites are more likely than blacks to misuse prescription opioids. This study looked at racial differences in risk reduction strategies, designed to minimize misuse of prescription pain medications, for patients receiving long-term opioids for chronic pain.

What This Study Found Black patients are significantly more likely than white patients to receive recommended opioid risk reduction strategies. Analyzing health records for 1,612 patients prescribed opioid analgesics for chronic noncancer pain, researchers found black patients were more likely than white patients to receive urine drug testing (10 percent vs 4 percent), regular office visits (56 percent vs 39 percent) and restricted early refills (80 percent vs 72 percent). After adjustment for patient and health care factors, the odds of urine drug testing for blacks was still higher, but no longer significantly so.

Implications

• The racial differences found in this study contradict evidence that the risk of prescription drug abuse is greater in whites than in other racial/ethnic groups.
• The authors call for clinical and educational initiatives to ensure that all patients are appropriately monitored for opioid use and that patient race does not affect opioid monitoring strategies.