Study: Higher Rates of Medical Use of Prescription Opioids in Schools Linked With Student Misuse of Opioids

A study finds that greater rates of medical use of prescription opioids in schools is directly associated with a higher prevalence of prescription opioid misuse among students. The study, “Medical Use and Misuse of Prescription Opioids in U.S. 12th Grade Youth: School-Level Correlates,” is in the October 2020 Pediatrics and is published online Sept. 10. For the study, researchers analyzed a sample of 228,507 U.S. 12th graders in 1,079 public and private schools from 2002 to 2017 from the Monitoring the Future study to identify school-level prevalence and correlates that are associated with medical use and the misuse of prescription opioids. Students in schools with the highest rates of medical use of prescription opioids had 57% increased odds of past-year prescription opioid misuse, compared to students in schools with zero medical use of prescription opioids. School-level assessments should be used to guide prevention efforts to reduce prescription opioid misuse, according to the authors of the study.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.