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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Opioids, Opioid Misuse, and Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adults

About this resource:

Systematic Review

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Last Reviewed: 2022

Workgroups: Older Adults Workgroup, Substance Use Workgroup

Opioid misuse and opioid use disorder are on the rise among older adults — but researchers don’t yet fully understand the factors that contribute to this trend among older adults. This report provides a framework for understanding how to reduce adverse outcomes of opioid use in older adults, and to describe the evidence available for different factors that contribute to opioid misuse and opioid use disorder among that age group. Researchers found that more studies are needed to look at interventions to reduce adverse outcomes and manage opioid use in older adults.

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Objectives related to this resource (2)

Reduce the proportion of older adults who use inappropriate medications — OA‑02
Baseline only
Reduce the proportion of people who had opioid use disorder in the past year — SU‑18
Improving

Suggested Citation

1.

Zullo AR, Danko KJ, Moyo P, Adam GP, Riester M, Kimmel HJ, Panagiotou OA, Beaudoin FL, Carr D, Balk EM. (2020). Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Opioids, Opioid Misuse, and Opioid Use Disorder in Older Adults. Retrieved from https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products/opioids-older-adults/report.