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Demographic Trends In Prescription Pain Reliever Misuse And Treatment-Seeking For Addiction, Megan C. Smith

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Opioid addiction in the United Sates has reached epidemic proportions in recent years, demanding targeted efforts in both clinical medicine and public health. This analysis outlined a demographic profile of recent prescription pain reliever (PPR) misusers and compared those characteristics to the population of individuals currently enrolled in addiction treatment. To explain the difference in numbers between these two populations, reported reasons for non-treatment seeking are analyzed by demographic characteristic. This discussion reviews existing literature profiling PPR misusers and treatment-seekers, as well as research exploring barriers to addiction treatment. A secondary analysis was performed using data from the National Survey …