Abstract
Invited commentary: Although the US has seen a decrease in opioid misuse rates among adolescents and young adults since 2015, opioid use disorder and overdose remain major public health problems in this high-risk population. Data from the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration estimate that in 2018, 5.6% of young adults aged 18 to 25 years and 2.8% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years misused prescription opioids in the past year.1 The reasons for high substance use rates in this age group are complex but include many factors rooted in neurodevelopment, socioeconomic characteristics, peer groups, and family life.........
Highlights
For young adults, the family environment is an increasingly recognized factor associated with opioid misuse
Ngyuen and colleagues[7] unpack the challenging epidemiology of opioid use within families using a retrospective cohort of 72 040 patients aged 11 to 26 years within 45 145 families enrolled in a single commercial health plan from 2006 to 2018. They assessed opioid use by both index patients and their family members who were enrolled in the health plan for a mean (SD) follow-up period of 4.9 (3.8) person-years
Opioid prescription was very common in this cohort, with 36.5% of index young adults and adolescents (n = 26 284) receiving at least 1 opioid prescription and 65.9% (n = 47 461) having at least 1 family member receive a prescription
Summary
The family environment is an increasingly recognized factor associated with opioid misuse. They assessed opioid use by both index patients and their family members who were enrolled in the health plan for a mean (SD) follow-up period of 4.9 (3.8) person-years. The authors found that for these adolescents and young adults, personal receipt of an opioid prescription and a family member’s receipt of an opioid prescription were both risk factors independently associated with opioid overdose, with adjusted hazard ratios of 6.62 (95% CI, 3.39-12.91) and 2.17 (95% CI, 1.24-3.79), respectively.
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