Disparities in prescription of opioids among prostate cancer patients of various racial groups

Abstract

Aim: To examine disparities in opioid prescription between different races of prostate cancer patients. Materials & methods: We used the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data (2013–2015) and developed a model based on covariates that may affect opioid prescription and based on this model, we carried out logistic regression, where our outcome of interest was prescription of at least one opioid among prostate cancer patients. Results: Compared with non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics had 0.490 (0.214–1.123), non-Hispanics blacks had 0.745 (0.429–1.293) and other ethnic groups had 2.550 (0.947–6.863) times the odds of receiving opioids than non-Hispanic whites. These differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: There were no differences between races in terms of opioid prescription for patients with prostate cancer.