Medication Aberrant Behavior and Time in Treatment: A Descriptive Analysis - Abstract
It has become standard clinical practice to assess patients before opioids are first prescribed as to the patients’ potential for future medication aberrant behavior (MAB). However, research to date has focused on the risk of medication aberrant behavior at the beginning of treatment. This descriptive study examined MAB as it occurred in the full course of treatment. Data was gathered on all patients at a single pain clinic who were discharged from care over a one year period for MAB (N=188). The length of time of time these patients had been in treatment was noted as well as what specific MAB they had engaged in and when their first MAB had occurred. Of these patients who had their care ended, the majority had been in treatment one year or less when they showed their first MAB (71%) and when their care was ended (57%). Use of illicit drugs, when it occurred, predominantly occurred in the first six months of treatment (81%). Other types of MAB (use of opioids not prescribed by the practice, being short or out of opioid medication and other violations of the medication agreement) generally first occurred within the first year of treatment as well. This general pattern was also true when just higher risk patients were examined. Implications of these findings are discussed particularly as it relates to patient monitoring as opioid treatment progresses.