Do Sex Differences Among Adults With Opioid Use Disorder Reflect Sex-specific Vulnerabilities? A Study of Behavioral Health Comorbidities, Pain, and Quality of Life.

Studies suggest that men and women have different vulnerabilities to a number of substance use disorders (SUDs). We examined whether differences between women and men with opioid use disorder (OUD) are significantly different from those without OUD for selected sociodemographic and health outcomes. We used a cross-sectional survey design using data from 2012 to 2013 National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave III, which surveyed nationally representative samples of non-institutionalized adults (n = 36,309 unweighted). Past-year OUD and other behavioral co-morbidities were defined using DSM-5 criteria. In bivariate analyses, we investigated sex differences in socio-demographic factors, behavioral co-morbidities, pain, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between women and men with past-year OUD, and then those without past-year OUD. We further used logistic regression analyses to evaluate interactions between effect of sex and past-year OUD status on behavioral co-morbidities, pain, and HRQOL. When extrapolated, about 2.1 million US adults met diagnostic criteria for past-year OUD. Women with OUD had a higher likelihood of having several past-year psychiatric disorders, and a lower likelihood of having any past-year SUDs compared to male counterparts. However, similar relationships were observed among those without OUD and significant interaction effects were not found on behavioral co-morbidities, pain, and HRQOL, indicating that general sex differences are not specific to OUD. Although sex differences are not specific to OUD, concurrent disorders are not uncommon among women, as well as men, with OUD. There is a need to treat concurrent behavioral health conditions from a multimorbidity perspective in the treatment of OUD in both sexes.