Opioid availability in outpatient pharmacies in Washington State.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if opioids, both long and short acting, were widely available in pharmacies in Washington State, and to ascertain if availability was related to rural/urban location or socioeconomic factors.


METHODS
A mail survey of 1349 outpatient pharmacies with telephone follow-up of the nonresponders.


RESULTS
Over 90% of the responding pharmacies in Washington State have a broad supply of both long-acting and short-acting opioids. Pharmacies located in rural and urban areas did not have different availability. Those pharmacies in areas with a high percentage of nonwhite residents or a high percentage of residents below the poverty level were statistically more likely to have reduced availability, but the differences were not clinically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Data from Washington State contrasts sharply with the reported data from metropolitan and rural areas of eastern and midwestern regions of the United States. Regional variations in all aspects of healthcare are common and often have defied explanation.
Mayer
Jonathan D
JD
Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. jmayer@u.washington.edu
Kirlin
Beth
B
Rehm
Colin D
CD
Loeser
John D
JD
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010045:Outpatients; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010594:Pharmacies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014861:Washington
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid