Reduce the proportion of people who misused a prescription pain reliever in the past year — SU‑19 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page: About this objective | Methodology | History

About this objective

Data

Data Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), SAMHSA

National baseline: 3.2 percent of persons aged 12 years and over reported misuse of a prescription pain reliever in the past 12 months in 2021

National target: 2.8 percent

Numerator

Number of persons aged 12 years and over reporting misuse of prescription pain relievers in the past 12 months.

Denominator

Number of persons aged 12 years and over.

National target-setting method

Minimal statistical significance

National target-setting method details

Minimal statistical significance, assuming the same standard error for the target as for the baseline.

National target-setting method justification

Trend data are not available due to the NSDUH redesign. Data from 2021 cannot be compared or combined with data from previous years. The standard error was used to calculate a target based on minimal statistical significance, assuming the same standard error for the target as for the baseline. This method was used because it retains the original target setting method and was a statistically significant improvement from the baseline. The Workgroup Subject Matter Experts viewed this as an ambitious yet achievable target.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:

Numerator:

Earlier you reported having used certain prescription pain relievers during the past year. Now please think about whether you used any of these pain relievers in any way a doctor did not direct you to use them. When you answer these questions, please think only about your use of the drug in any way a doctor did not direct you to use it, including:

Using it without a prescription of your own
Using it in greater amounts, more often, or longer than you were told to take it
Using it in any other way a doctor did not direct you to use it

Earlier, you reported that, in the past 12 months, you used [prescription pain reliever subtype]. In the past 12 months, did you use [prescription pain reliever subtype] in any way a doctor did not direct you to use it? DISPLAY IMAGE FOR [prescription pain reliever subtype]

Methodology notes

Misuse of prescription pain relievers was defined as use "in any way a doctor did not direct you to use [it or them]" and focused on behaviors that constitute misuse of prescription pain relievers drugs. Examples of misuse were presented to respondents and included (1) use without a prescription of the respondent's own; (2) use in greater amounts, more often, or longer than told to take a drug; or (3) use in any other way a doctor did not direct the respondent to use a drug.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective

Retained, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 with no change in measurement.

Revision History

Revised.

In 2024, the baseline was revised from 3.6% in 2018 to 3.2% in 2021. The target setting method, minimal statistical significance, remained the same; however, the target was revised from 3.3% to 2.8% using the 2021 data.

Trend issues

SAMHSA started multimode data collection (in-person and web-based collection) for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) beginning in Quarter 4 (i.e., October to December) of 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 NSDUH is based on both in-person and web interviews. Prior to 2020, NSDUH data are based on in-person data collection alone. The 2020 NSDUH included only 2 quarters (Quarters 1 and 4) of data collection unlike the four quarters of data collected in other years. Several analyses were conducted to investigate the impacts of these and related methodological issues on estimates for 2021. Using the outcomes of the comparability analyses, the following decisions were made regarding the 2021 NSDUH data. • Estimates from 2021 cannot be compared with those in 2019 or prior years because estimates from a multimode year are not comparable with estimates from a single-mode year. Estimates of change from 2019 or earlier to 2021 would probably be too greatly influenced by the mode effect. • Because of effects on estimates when some quarters of data are excluded or missing, 2020 estimates (based on two quarters of data) cannot be compared with those of any other year, including 2021. Using only 2 quarters of data may yield a different trend than use of 4 quarters of data. • NSDUH data from 2021 should not be combined or compared with any prior data.