JAMA internal medicine
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JAMA Intern Med
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JAMA internal medicine · May 2014
High-risk use by patients prescribed opioids for pain and its role in overdose deaths.
From January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2010, drug overdose deaths in Tennessee increased from 422 to 1059 per year. More of these deaths involved prescription opioids than heroin and cocaine combined. ⋯ High-risk use of prescription opioids is frequent and increasing in Tennessee and is associated with increased overdose mortality. Use of prescription drug–monitoring program data to direct risk-reduction measures to the types of patients overrepresented among overdose deaths might reduce mortality associated with opioid abuse.