title: Indices of drug misuse for prescription drugs.
abstract: Few studies of prescription-drug misuse have taken into account the numbers of prescriptions dispensed for specific drugs. Using data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) and the National Prescription Audit, we calculated indices of drug misuse for specific prescription drugs that are used mainly in outpatient settings and are either benzodiazepines, barbiturates, other sedative-hypnotics, analgesics, or CNS stimulants. In 1983-1985 the drugs associated with the highest numbers of DAWN medical examiner-reported drug-misuse deaths were codeine, diazepam, propoxyphene, phenobarbital, and secobarbital. However, the drugs with the highest indices of DAWN medical examiner-reported drug-misuse deaths/100,000 dispensed prescriptions were methamphetamine, methaqualone, amobarbital, secobarbital, and glutethimide. An index of fatality risk, calculated as 100 x DAWN medical examiner-reported drug-misuse deaths/DAWN emergency room-reported drug-misuse episodes, suggested that the risk of death from a glutethimide-associated drug-misuse episode had increased 92% from 1975-1979 to 1983-1983 and in 1983-1985 was the highest for the drugs studied. These indices might assist public health authorities attempting to design effective strategies to efficiently address the problem of prescription-drug misuse.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Examination Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, Maryland 20782.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baum
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Graham
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs