Erin M. Johnson

TL;DR: Clinical strategies to reduce opioid-related mortality should be empirically tested, should not reduce access to needed therapies, should address risk from methadone as well as other opioids, and should be incorporated into any risk evaluation and mitigation strategies enacted by regulators.

TL;DR: The large majority of decedents were prescribed opioids for management of chronic pain and many exhibited behaviors indicative of prescribed medication misuse, while financial problems, unemployment, physical disability, depression, and substance use (including illegal drugs) were also common.

TL;DR: Utah Clinical Guidelines on Prescribing Opioids for Treatment of Pain were produced and made available to medical providers in March 2009 and include a set of recommendations for both acute and chronic pain.

TL;DR: Use of pain medication outside prescription bounds was a risk factor for death in Utah, however, decedents were more likely to have had chronic pain, and the majority of both groups had obtained pain medication by prescription.

TL;DR: Findings from the survey indicated that an estimated 20.8% of Utah adults aged ≥18 years had been prescribed an opioid pain medication during the preceding 12 months, and receiving prescription opioids was more common among adults aged 35–64 years and most common among those aged 45–54 years.