2015 to 2023 Saw Drop in U.S. Patients Prescribed Long-Term Opioids

FRIDAY, April 17, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- From 2015 to 2023, there was a decrease in the number of U.S. patients prescribed long-term opioid therapy, according to a study published online April 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.Thuy D. Nguyen, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, and colleagues examined national trends in the prevalence and characteristics of patients receiving long-term opioid therapy using data from the IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription Database.The researchers identified 16,337,529 long-term opioid therapy episodes among 13,311,584 patients between 2015 and 2023. There were 5.6 million patients with an active long-term opioid therapy episode in 2015 compared with 4.2 million in 2023 (relative change, −24.3 percent). Patients with long-term opioid therapy episodes accounted for 11.5 percent of those with any opioid episodes in 2023. From 2015 to 2023, there was an increase in mean patient age from 52.5 to 60.5 years. In 2015, the highest share of long-term opioid therapy episodes was covered by commercial insurance (40.9 percent), and in 2023, the highest share was covered by Medicare (48.7 percent). There was a decrease in long-term opioid therapy episodes from a mean of 47.9 to 38.6 daily morphine milligram equivalents from 2015 to 2023."Despite significant resources having been invested by the government and professional organizations in programs aimed at mitigating the risks associated with opioid prescribing (including reducing initiation of opioid prescriptions and expanding access to opioid addiction treatment), our findings suggest that millions of individuals in the U.S. [United States] continue to be prescribed long-term opioid therapy," the authors write.One author disclosed ties to Daniels Health; two authors received grants from Blue Cross Blue Shield; and one author served as an expert witness in lawsuits against opioid distributors.Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required).Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

2015 to 2023 Saw Drop in U.S. Patients Prescribed Long-Term Opioids

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