Opioid management insurance policies linked to drop in home violence

A brand new research led by the College of South Florida reveals opioid management insurance policies could supply broader public well being advantages, together with lowering situations of home violence. As policymakers proceed to grapple with the opioid epidemic, this research highlights the facility of analysis to tell efficient public coverage.

The analysis carried out by USF doctoral scholar Minglu Solar and Andrei Barbos, affiliate professor of economics, underscores how opioid abuse may cause a robust ripple impact throughout society.

Printed in Well being Economics, the research analyzes the influence on the prevalence of home violence in Obligatory Entry Prescription Drug Monitoring Applications. These opioid management packages require well being care suppliers to seek the advice of a centralized database earlier than prescribing opioids, serving to stop sufferers from acquiring a number of prescriptions from a number of docs. Within the early 2010s, states started passing legal guidelines that mandated the usage of these databases after the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention and different businesses mentioned they had been a key software to fight misuse of opioids.

The staggered rollout of those packages throughout the nation provided a singular alternative to research their results over time and throughout completely different areas, which allowed us to isolate the consequences of those opioid management packages on the prevalence of home violence from different components, akin to financial cycles, concurrent coverage modifications or broader crime tendencies.”

Andrei Barbos, affiliate professor of economics, College of South Florida

With knowledge from the Nationwide Incident-Primarily based Reporting System, they compiled studies from 31 states between 2007 and 2019 to create managed fashions for dynamic variables together with demographics, revenue, unemployment, well being standing, insurance coverage protection and overlapping laws, akin to legalized marijuana.

Solar and Barbos discovered that these opioid management packages not solely curb misuse however contributed to a ten% discount within the prevalence of easy assaults, which account for practically 75% of home violence incidents within the knowledge. Easy assaults are typically outlined as an try to trigger bodily hurt to a different particular person that doesn’t contain a weapon or lead to severe damage.

The impact was strongest in states with the best opioid prescription charges. In keeping with the CDC, southern states persistently exhibit larger charges – reinforcing the connection between opioid entry and home violence.

“Earlier public well being literature documented a correlation between opioid consumption and home violence, however correlation doesn’t indicate a causal relationship,” Barbos mentioned. “This text establishes a causal relationship and gives coverage makers with proof of an extra constructive spillover of opioid management insurance policies, which can even be related for the coverage design surrounding the present fentanyl disaster.”