Understanding the rural-urban differences in nonmedical prescription opioid use and abuse in the United States

K.M. Keyes, M. Cerdá, J.E. Brady, J.R. Havens and S. Galea

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue 2, e52-e59

Abstract: Nonmedical prescription opioid misuse remains a growing public problem in need of action and is concentrated in areas of US states with large rural populations such as Kentucky, West Virginia, Alaska, and Oklahoma. We developed hypotheses regarding the influence of 4 factors: (1) greater opioid prescription in rural areas, creating availability from which illegal markets can arise; (2) an out-migration of young adults; (3) greater rural social and kinship network connections, which may facilitate drug diversion and distribution; and (4) economic stressors that may create vulnerability to drug use more generally. A systematic consideration of the contexts that create differences in availability, access, and preferences is critical to understanding how drug use context varies across geography.

Keywords: prescription drug, article; economics; family relation; human; opiate addiction; perception; prescription drug diversion; prevalence; psychological aspect; risk factor; rural population; social environment; social support; statistics; United States; urban population, Economics; Family Relations; Humans; Opioid-Related Disorders; Perception; Prescription Drug Diversion; Prescription Drugs; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Rural Population; Social Environment; Social Support; United States; Urban Population (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2013.301709_5

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301709

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