Matt Schiller

Societal Costs of Prescription Opioid Abuse, Dependence, and Misuse in the United States

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to estimate the societal costs of prescription opioid abuse, dependence, and misuse in the United States. METHODS Costs were grouped into three categories: health care, workplace, and criminal justice. Costs were estimated by 1) quantity method, which multiplies the number of opioid abuse patients by cost per opioid abuse patient; and 2) apportionment method, which begins with overall costs of drug abuse per component and apportions the share associated with prescription opioid abuse based on relative prevalence of prescription opioid to overall drug abuse. Excess health care costs per patient were based on claims data analysis of privately insured and Medicaid beneficiaries. Other data/information were derived from publicly available survey and other secondary sources. RESULTS Total US societal costs of prescription opioid abuse were estimated at

Direct and Indirect Costs of Non-Vertebral Fracture Patients with Osteoporosis in the US

55.7 billion in 2007 (USD in 2009). Workplace costs accounted for

Duloxetine Use in Chronic Low Back Pain

25.6 billion (46%), health care costs accounted for

Real-world role of tricyclic antidepressants in the treatment of fibromyalgia.

25.0 billion (45%), and criminal justice costs accounted for

Duloxetine Use in Employees with Low Back Pain: Treatment Patterns and Direct and Indirect Costs

5.1 billion (9%). Workplace costs were driven by lost earnings from premature death (

Direct and indirect costs of patients treated with extended-release oxymorphone HCl or controlled-release oxycodone HCl

11.2 billion) and reduced compensation/lost employment (

Real-world practice patterns, health-care utilization, and costs in patients with low back pain: the long road to guideline-concordant care

7.9 billion). Health care costs consisted primarily of excess medical and prescription costs (

A Model to Identify Patients at Risk for Prescription Opioid Abuse, Dependence, and Misuse

23.7 billion). Criminal justice costs were largely comprised of correctional facility (

Economic burden of privately insured non-vertebral fracture patients with osteoporosis over a 2-year period in the US

2.3 billion) and police costs (

Prevalence and costs of osteoporotic patients with subsequent non-vertebral fractures in the US

1.5 billion). CONCLUSIONS   The costs of prescription opioid abuse represent a substantial and growing economic burden for the society. The increasing prevalence of abuse suggests an even greater societal burden in the future.