| Title |
Estimating the Prevalence of Opioid Diversion by “Doctor Shoppers” in the United States
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
PLOS ONE, July 2013
|
| DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0069241 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Douglas C. McDonald, Kenneth E. Carlson |
| Abstract |
Abuse of prescription opioid analgesics is a serious threat to public health, resulting in rising numbers of overdose deaths and admissions to emergency departments and treatment facilities. Absent adequate patient information systems, "doctor shopping" patients can obtain multiple opioid prescriptions for nonmedical use from different unknowing physicians. Our study estimates the prevalence of doctor shopping in the US and the amounts and types of opioids involved. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 45 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 22 | 49% |
| Canada | 3 | 7% |
| Ireland | 2 | 4% |
| Virgin Islands, U.S. | 1 | 2% |
| Vietnam | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 16 | 36% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 31 | 69% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 10 | 22% |
| Scientists | 4 | 9% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 112 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 3 | 3% |
| Colombia | 1 | <1% |
| Ireland | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 107 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 16 | 14% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 13% |
| Other | 12 | 11% |
| Researcher | 12 | 11% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 11 | 10% |
| Other | 28 | 25% |
| Unknown | 19 | 17% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 36 | 32% |
| Social Sciences | 14 | 13% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 9 | 8% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 4 | 4% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 4 | 4% |
| Other | 21 | 19% |
| Unknown | 24 | 21% |