CDC: Opioid Prescriptions Still Higher in Rural Areas

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), primary care physicians in rural areas are still prescribing opioids at a significantly higher rate than in cities, even as state and federal policies try to curtail their use, reports Politico Pro . An analysis of prescribing rates of 31,422 primary care doctors serving 17 million people in urban and rural areas between January 2014 and March 2017 determined rural beneficiaries were 87 percent more likely to receive an opioid prescription than those in large metropolitan areas. Prescribing rates fell in all regions after the release of CDC guidelines in 2016, which urged limiting initial opioid prescriptions; however, they remained higher in rural regions. Deadly overdoses climbed nearly 10 percent last year and nearly 25 percent of those fatalities involved a prescription opioid. Rates of opioid-related deaths have been consistently higher in rural areas like Appalachia, where more opioids are prescribed per person than in the rest of the nation. Researchers suggest the higher rates of opioid prescribing among primary care doctors in rural and non-metropolitan areas may be partly on account of higher rates of chronic pain among residents in those regions.