One-third of US adults misused prescription drugs in 2015

More than one-third of the U.S. adult population misused prescription drugs at least once in the past year, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

“Prescription drug misuse is second only to marijuana use as the nation’s most commonly used illicit drug. Although prescription drug misuse is common in the United States, the majority of people (87.2%) who take prescription pain relievers do not misuse them,” Rachel N. Lipari, PhD, of SAMHSA, and colleagues wrote. “Understanding the prevalence of and reasons for prescription drug misuse has major public health implications. Policymakers can use this type of information to help inform their assessments of substance use prevention and treatment needs in their communities.”

To update information on past-year misuse of prescription drugs and reasons for misuse in adults, researchers analyzed data from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

In 2015, 91.8 million adults used prescription pain relievers, representing 37.8% of the U.S. adult population.

Approximately 11.5 million adults misused prescription pain relievers at least once in the past year. The most common reason for misuse was to relieve physical pain (63.4%).

Prescription tranquilizers were misused by 5.7 million adults at least once in the past year, with 46.2% reporting misuse to relax or relieve tension and 21.2% to help with sleep.

Approximately 4.8 million adults misused prescription stimulants at least once in the past year. The most common reasons for misuse were to help be alert or stay awake (28.4%), to help concentrate (26.2%), and to help study (22.4%).

Prescription sedatives were misused by 1.4 million adults in the past year. The majority of adults (73.2%) reported misusing to help with sleep.

“As more years of NSDUH data are collected, it will be possible to conduct additional analyses to inform prescription drug misuse prevention efforts, such as misuse among adolescents or the relationship between reasons for misuse and the source of the drug. This type of additional research may give policymakers information they could to use to improve treatment and prevention efforts,” the researchers concluded. – by Amanda Oldt

Reference:

Lipari RN, et al. CBHSQ report: Why do adults misuse prescription drugs? Available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/data. Accessed August 1, 2017.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.