NIH Radio
Analysis of opioid prescription practices finds areas of concern – 1
Narrator: This is NIH Health Matters. I’m Joe Balintfy. A recent study of national prescribing patterns shows approximately 56 percent of painkiller prescriptions were given to patients who had filled another prescription for pain within the past month.
Weiss: Most of these are short term prescriptions; they’re for two to three weeks.
Narrator: Dr. Susan Weiss is with the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Weiss: The question really is, why is there so much prescribing within such a short period of time?
Narrator: She adds most of these prescriptions are likely being used for very legitimate reasons: treating both acute and chronic pain is important. But the study does show signs of abuse. For details, visit www.nida.nih.gov. Health Matters is produced by the National Institutes of Health, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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