NCHS Data Brief, Number 369, June 2020

NCHS Data Brief, Number 369, June 2020

Prevalence of Prescription Pain Medication Use Among Adults: United States, 2015–2018

Key findings
Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

• In 2015–2018, 10.7% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over used one or more prescription pain medications (opioid or nonopioid) in the past 30 days.
• In 2015–2018, 5.7% of U.S. adults used one or more prescription opioids.
• Prescription opioid use was higher among women than men, and use increased with age.
• In 2015–2018, 5.0% of adults used nonopioid prescription pain medications without prescription opioids in the past 30 days; use was lowest among non-Hispanic Asian adults.
• From 2009–2010 through 2017–2018, no significant change in the use of prescription opioids was seen, but use of nonopioid prescription pain medications (without prescription opioids) increased.

Keywords

​analgesic, drug, opioid, NHANES

Full Report in HTML >

Full Report in PDF >