• UCLA Health
  • myUCLAhealth
  • School of Medicine
UCLA Health

UCLA Health
  • About Us
    • What is UCLA Health?
    • Contact Us
    • Your Feedback
    • Accountable Care Organization
    • Awards & Achievements
    • Careers
    • Careers for Physicians
    • Departments - Administrative
    • Departments - Clinical
    • Industry Relations
    • In the Community
    • Innovation & Technology
    • Leadership
    • News Releases
    • Social Media
    Vital SignsLinked Graphic: Subscribe to Health Newsletters
    • Contact
    • Your Feedback
    • Accountable Care Organization
    • Awards and Achievements
    • Careers
    • Careers for Physicians
    • Departments - Administrative
    • Departments - Clinical
    • Industry Relations
    • In the Community
    • Innovation & Technology
    • Leadership
    • News Releases
    • Social Media
  • Conditions & Treatment
    • Health Library
    • Tests & Procedures
    • Drug Interaction Checker
    • Brain & Nervous System
    • Cancer
    • Children's Health
    • Heart Disease
    • Nutrition & Wellness
    • Pregnancy & Newborns
    • Orthopedics
    • Women's Health
    • Video Library
    • Cancer
    • Cardiovascular
    • Chiropractic
    • Cosmetic Surgery
    • Ear, Nose and Throat
    • Gastrointestinal
    • General Healthcare
    • Neurological
    • Obstetrics/Gynecology
    • See all videos...
    Symptom Checker
    • Video Library
  • Locations

    Hospitals

    • Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
    • UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica
    • UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital
    • Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital
    • Institutes and Centers
    • Take a Virtual Tour

    Medical Offices/Clinics

    • Primary Care
    • Specialty Care
    • Urgent Care Centers
    • Outpatient Surgery Centers
    • Imaging/Radiology Locations
    • Clinical Labs
    • Pharmacies
    • Coming Soon

    Interactive Map

    interactive map

    • UCLA Hospitals
    • Take a Virtual Tour
    • Primary Care Practices
    • Specialty Care Practices
    • Urgent Care Centers
    • Outpatient Surgery Centers
    • Other Locations
    • Interactive Map
    • Coming Soon!
  • Medical Services
  • For Patients & Visitors
    • Directions & Parking
    • Appointments: Call, Click, Come In
    • Admissions Information
    • Preparing For Surgery
    • Patient Services
    • Security & Parking Services
    • Office of the Patient Experience
    • For International Patients
    • Lodging & Nearby Services
    • Around Westwood
    • Gift Shops & Flowers
    • Health Resources
    • Log in to myUCLAhealth
    • About myUCLAhealth
    • Billing Information
    • Medical Records
    • Accountable Care Organization (ACO)
    • Covered California
    • Health Plans
    • Interactive Patient Education Videos (Emmi)
    • FAQs
    • Calendar of Events
    • Share your story. Connect. Share. Improve. UCLA Health
    • Share Your Story
    • Health Publications
    • Vital Signs Newsletters
    • Health Tips for Parents
    • Contact Us
    • Appointments: Call, Click, Come in
    • Admissions Information
    • Advance Directive
    • Covered California
    • Health Plans
    • Directions & Parking
    • Patient Services
    • Medical Records
    • myUCLAhealth
    • Smoke-Free
    • Publications
    • Health Resources
    • Around Westwood
    • Lodging
    • Preparing For Surgery
    • Patient-focused Technology Council
    • Health Forms
    • End of Life Option Act: Resources & Materials
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Gift Shops
  • For Healthcare Professionals
    • Referring a Patient
    • E-Referral
    • Continuing Medical Education
    • Ethics Center
    • UCLA HealthLink
    • Physician to Physician Access Line (P2P)
    • David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
    • Clinical Informatics Fellowship
    • Academic Positions
    • Physician Careers
    • UCLA School of Nursing
    • Department of Nursing

    Physician Publications

    • Physicians Update
    • Clinical Updates
    • U Magazine
    • E-Referral
    • Physician to Physician Access Line (P2P)
    • Physician Careers
    • Clinical Informatics Fellowship
    • Flu Resources for Healthcare Professionals
    • Publications
  • Multimedia
    • UCLAMDCHAT Webinars
    • Community Health Program Videos
    • UCLAORLive Surgery
    • iTunes
    • Download Our Apps
    • Mini Med School
    • Demystifying Cancer Forum
    • TEDx UCLA Videos
    • Tips from our Physical Therapists
    • Patient Stories
    • Real Questions
    • Webinars on Demand
    • Pediatric Grand Rounds
    • Tune in to watch our health webinars
    • Community Health Program Videos
    • UCLAORLive Surgery
    • UCLAMDChat Webinars
    • iTunes
    • Download Our Apps
    • Mini Med School
    • Demystifying Cancer Forum
    • TEDx UCLA Videos
    • Tips From Our Physical Therapists
    • Patient Stories
    • Real Questions
    • Back Pain Management
  • Find a Provider
  • UCLA Health
  • myUCLAhealth
  • School of Medicine

About Us

About Us

About Us

  • Contact
  • Your Feedback
  • Accountable Care Organization
    • CMS Medicare Shared Savings Program
    • UCLA MSSP ACO
    • ACO - Anthem Blue Cross PPO
      • Anthem Blue Cross PPO ACO FAQ
  • Awards and Achievements
    • UCLA Health hospitals rank among nation’s best in U.S. News survey
    • UCLA Designated a National Magnet Hospital
  • Careers
  • Careers for Physicians
  • Departments - Administrative
  • Departments - Clinical
  • Industry Relations
  • In the Community
    • Community Health
  • Innovation & Technology
    • Contact
  • Leadership
    • Dr. John Mazziotta
    • Johnese Spisso
    • Dr. Kelsey Martin
  • News Releases
  • Social Media
  • Contact
  • Your Feedback
  • Accountable Care Organization
  • Awards and Achievements
  • Careers
  • Careers for Physicians
  • Departments - Administrative
  • Departments - Clinical
  • Industry Relations
  • In the Community
  • Innovation & Technology
  • Leadership
  • News Releases
  • Social Media
  1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. News Releases

News Releases

Share this

Health and Behavior

Opioid addiction raises mortality rate for those getting care in medical offices, hospitals

UCLA study indicates a need to improve detection and treatment in primary health settings

04/21/2017

People who are addicted to opioids and receiving their medical care in a general health care setting were more than 10 times as likely to die during a four-year period than people without substance abuse problems, UCLA researchers have found. The new study, published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, suggests that health care systems should have better infrastructure and training for primary care physicians to diagnose and treat opioid use disorder, a condition that includes addiction to both prescription and illicit opioids.

The study, led by Yih-Ing Hser, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, is the first to look at the mortality rate of people with opioid use disorder in a general health care system rather than those treated at specialty addiction clinics. The mortality rate among patients in this setting, which includes primary care offices and large research hospitals, was more than two times higher than what previous studies had found in specialty clinics.

UCLA - Yih-Ing Hser

“The high rates of death among patients with opioid use disorder in a general health care system reported in this study suggest we need strategies to improve detection and treatment of this disorder in primary care settings,” Hser said.

Opioids often are prescribed to treat acute and chronic pain, and include prescription medications such as oxycodone (or OxyContin), hydrocodone (or Vicodin), codeine, morphine and fentanyl, as well as illicit substances such as heroin. The number of opioid overdoses in the United States has quadrupled since 1999, leading some physicians and policymakers to declare the opioid problem a national crisis. The 21st Century Cures Act, legislation signed in December by former President Barack Obama, included $1 billion in funding to help states address opioid abuse.

As rates of opioid addiction have risen, patients with opioid abuse problems increasingly are being treated by generalists, such as internists and primary care physicians, in doctors’ offices. Until now, researchers had not gauged the impact of this influx of patients with opioid abuse and addiction in primary care settings.  

Hser and colleagues studied electronic health records, and an associated death index system, for 2,576 patients, ages 18 to 64, diagnosed with opioid use disorder from 2006 to 2014. The individuals received health care at a major university hospital system. While all of those studied had diagnoses of opioid use disorder, not all were receiving treatment for it.

By the end of the study period, 465 people (18.1 percent of the study population) had died. Based on how long each person had participated in the study — an average of about four years for each individual — the researchers calculated a crude mortality rate of 48.6 deaths per 1,000 person-years, more than two times higher than the 20.9 deaths per 1,000 reported in previous studies done in specialty addiction clinics. The rate was also more than 10 times higher than the expected death rate for people of the same age and sex in the general U.S. population.

Overall, the patients in the new study were older at diagnosis and had a higher rate of other diseases and disorders compared to patients included in previous studies that took place at specialty clinics. Hser’s team noted higher rates of both simultaneously occurring health complications — including hepatitis C, liver disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes — as well as other substance abuse disorders involving  tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and cocaine — among the patients who died.

“The findings were surprising because one would potentially expect better health care outcomes for patients being served by a large health care system,” Hser said. “Late identification of opioid use disorder and lack of addiction treatment could contribute to these high rates of serious health conditions and death.”

Black or uninsured individuals were also more likely to die during the study period, the researchers said, a finding they noted highlights the need for additional research on disparities in addiction care.

Additional research will be needed, they concluded, to determine how to best curb the mortality rates among all individuals with opioid use disorder and better integrate substance abuse disorder screening and treatment into primary care.

The study’s other authors are UCLA psychiatrists Larissa Mooney and Karen Miotto; UCLA professor of medicine Douglas Bell; UCLA graduate students Yuhui Zhu and Di Liang; David Huang, the senior statistician at the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs; and Andrew Saxon of the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System.

The research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Clinical Trials Network.



Media Contact
Leigh Hopper
310-267-7149
LHopper@mednet.ucla.edu



Latest News

Health and Behavior
Crop choices: How price supports can contribute to healthier diets
04/19/2018
Professor's model suggests well-designed subsidies can help farmers and give consumers better food choices.

Health and Behavior
UCLA study reports nearly 1 in 3 California kids have a sugary drink daily
04/19/2018
Research confirms that one sugary drink a day can increase people’s risk for Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, tooth decay and obesity.

Health and Behavior
Two UCLA professors elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
04/18/2018
Philippe Bourgouis and Rosa Matzkin join the organization of scholars, artists and innovators, which was founded in 1780.

Health and Behavior
Researchers link sedentary behavior to thinning in brain region critical for memory
04/16/2018
Researchers link sedentary behavior to thinning in a brain region that is critical for memory.

Health and Behavior
UCLA study produces clearest images to date of HSV-1, the virus that causes cold sores
04/13/2018
Researchers used cryo electron microscopy to obtain the first atomic model of the particle, which is made up of more than 3,000 protein molecules comprising tens of millions of atoms.

Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Add Us to Your Google+ Circles Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on Flickr Follow us on Sharecare
UCLA Health hospitals rank among nation's best in U.S. News survey
  • UCLA Health
  • School of Medicine
  • School of Nursing
  • UCLA Campus
  • Directory
  • Newsroom
  • Publications
  • Giving
  • Careers
  • Volunteer
  • Privacy Practices
  • Nondiscrimination
  • Emergency
  • Smoke-Free
  • Terms of Use
  • 1-800-UCLA-MD1
  • Maps & Directions
  • Contact Us
  • Report Broken Links
  • Sitemap
Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Add Us to Your Google+ Circles Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on Flickr Follow us on Sharecare

Sign in to myUCLAhealth