Reductions and pronounced regional differences in morphine distribution in the United States.

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to describe the temporal pattern of morphine distribution nationally and between states. Drug weight was obtained from Report 5 of the US Drug Enforcement Administration's Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System (ARCOS) to characterize patterns in the distribution of morphine from 2012 to 2021. Morphine distribution amounts were separated by state and business type and corrected for population. States outside a 95% confidence interval relative to the national average were considered statistically significant. In 2012, there was a 4.6-fold difference in morphine distribution between the highest-prescribing state, Tennessee (180.2 mg/person), and the lowest-prescribing state, Texas (39.4 mg/person). By the end of 2021, national distribution of morphine had decreased by 59.9% when compared to the peak year 2012. In 2021, Tennessee (51.1 mg/person) remained the highest-prescribing state with a 3.0-fold difference relative to Texas (17.2 mg/person). The average hospital decrease (-73.9%) from 2012 to 2021 was larger than that of pharmacies (-58.2%). The national 59.9% decline in morphine in the last decade may be attributable to prioritization of the US opioid crisis as a public concern. Further research is necessary to understand the persistent regional difference between states.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest BJP was part of an osteoarthritis research team supported by Pfizer and Eli Lilly from 2019 to 2021. The other authors have no disclosures.