Opioid Abuse And Poisoning: Trends In Inpatient And Emergency Department Discharges

Opioid Abuse And Poisoning: Trends In Inpatient And Emergency Department Discharges

Hospital Data Show Sharp Increase in Heroin Overdoses While Prescription Opioid Overdoses Have Declined

Overdoses from heroin and other illicit opioids have accelerated sharply since 2008 while overdoses by prescription opioids have declined since 2010, according to a new AHRQ-funded study in Health Affairs. Researchers used the agency’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data to analyze national trends in hospital inpatient and emergency department (ED) discharges for opioid abuse, dependence and poisoning. Between 2008 and 2014, opioid-related ED discharge rates for heroin overdoses increased by about 31 percent a year, researchers found. Meanwhile, inpatient and ED discharge rates for overdoses by prescription opioids each declined by about 5 percent a year between 2010 and 2014. The authors concluded that further research on prescribing patterns and the indirect costs of heroin’s increased burden on the legal system could guide policies to curb and manage the epidemic. Access the abstract. The research follows a recent AHRQ statistical brief that examined opioid-related hospital trends for prescription opioids and heroin combined. Among other findings, that analysis of patient characteristics showed that hospitalizations involving opioids increased 75 percent for women between 2005 and 2014, significantly outpacing the 55 percent increase among men.

VOL. 36| NO. 10October 2017Emergency Departments, Behavioral Health & More

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Opioid Abuse And Poisoning: Trends In Inpatient And Emergency Department Discharges

1. Dario Tedesco1, 
2. Steven M. Asch2, 
3. Catherine Curtin3, 
4. Jennifer Hah4,
5. Kathryn M. McDonald5, 
6. Maria P. Fantini6 and 
7. Tina Hernandez-Boussard7,*

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹Dario Tedesco is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Medicine, Stanford University, in California.
2. ²Steven M. Asch is director of the Center for Innovation to Implementation at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and vice chief of the Division of Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford University.
3. ³Catherine Curtin is an associate professor of surgery at Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital and at Stanford University School of Medicine.
4. ⁴Jennifer Hah is an instructor of anesthesiology at Stanford University School of Medicine.
5. ⁵Kathryn M. McDonald is executive director of the Center for Health Policy and the Center for Primary Care Outcomes Research at Stanford University.
6. ⁶Maria P. Fantini is a professor of hygiene and public health in the Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences at the University of Bologna, in Italy.
7. ⁷Tina Hernandez-Boussard (boussard@stanford.edu) is an associate professor of medicine, biomedical data sciences, and surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine.

1. ↵*Corresponding author

Abstract

Addressing the opioid epidemic is a national priority. We analyzed national trends in inpatient and emergency department (ED) discharges for opioid abuse, dependence, and poisoning using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data. Inpatient and ED discharge rates increased overall across the study period, but a decline was observed for prescription opioid–related discharges beginning in 2010, while a sharp increase in heroin-related discharges began in 2008.