OBJECTIVES To determine whether chronically ill patients have gaps in knowledge about their prescription drug coverage and establish the relationship between gaps and medication cost problems. DESIGN Nationwide, cross-sectional survey. SETTING Nationwide survey conducted via the Internet. PARTICIPANTS Three thousand one hundred nineteen adults aged 50 and older (1,400 of whom were aged > ...

OBJECTIVE To examine whether variation in prescribing at the level of the individual physician is associated with opioid-related mortality. DESIGN A population-based cross-sectional analysis linking prescription data with records from the Office of the Chief Coroner. SETTING The province of Ontario. Participants Family physicians in Ontario and Ontarians aged 15 to 64 who were eligible for ...

OBJECTIVES This longitudinal study examined the prevalence and correlates of energy drink use among college students, and investigated its possible prospective associations with subsequent drug use, including nonmedical prescription drug use. METHODS Participants were 1,060 undergraduates from a large, public university who completed three annual interviews, beginning in their first year of c...

The nonmedical use of prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medications implies that the user is using them for reasons other than those indicated in the prescribing literature or on the box label. The abuse of these medications is a national issue. Intentional drug abuse of prescribed and OTC medicines has climbed steadily. Data from the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health demonstrate...

THE FACTS In 2013, more than 43,900 Americans died from drug overdose. Prescription drugs contributed to most of those deaths. Opioid pain relievers like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone were involved in more than 16,000 of those deaths (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). Approximately 46 Americans die every day from drug overdoses (Jones, Mack, & Paulozzi, 2013). Opi...

OBJECTIVES To assess motives for nonmedical use of prescription opioids among US high school seniors and examine associations between motives for nonmedical use and other substance use behaviors. DESIGN Nationally representative samples of US high school seniors (modal age 18 years) were surveyed during the spring of their senior year via self-administered questionnaires. SETTING Data were ...