Addiction to medications used properly under doctors’ supervision is known as iatrogenic addiction. In a NEJM Perspective article, PROP leader Dr. Andrew Kolodny sheds light on how the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)survey wasn’t identifying millions of cases of OUD because it had explicitly excluded a large group of Americans with OUD: people who take opioids as prescribed. In 2021, HHS changed the NSDUH’s methods. Now, all patients who report use of prescribed opioids in the previous year receive an assessment for OUD based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), criteria. Until the United States starts doing a better job of preventing and treating OUD, the opioid crisis is likely to continue unabated. For too long, millions of people with iatrogenic OUD were unseen by clinicians, health officials, and policymakers. We can no longer look away. Read the full article here Screened Out.
Physicians and Health Professionals for Responsible Opioid Prescribing
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