As the pain pill Zohydro hits the market, the opioid epidemic continues with veterans remaining high at-risk. A recent report provided by the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAOM) found that half of veterans prescribed medical opioids for pain continue to chronically use (more than 90 days) the drugs.
According to research drawn from national Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA) data, of 959,226 veterans who received opioid prescriptions, 502,634 (52%) chronically used opioids. Some factors that were most likely to be present in veterans who chronically used opioids were PTSD, tobacco use, being married, having multiple pain conditions, the use of more than one type of opioid medication, and using an opioid dose above 100 mg per day. (Science Daily)
