Identifying sociodemographic profiles of veterans at risk for high-dose opioid prescribing using classification and regression trees.

Lipkin JS, Thorpe JM, Gellad WF, Hanlon JT, Zhao X, Thorpe CT, Sileanu FE, Cashy JP, Hale JA, Mor MK, Radomski TR, Good CB, Fine MJ, Hausmann LRM. Identifying sociodemographic profiles of veterans at risk for high-dose opioid prescribing using classification and regression trees. Journal of opioid management. 2020 Nov 1; 16(6):409-424.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• IIR 14-297 – Safety of Opioid use Among Veterans Receiving Care in Multiple Health Systems

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Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To identify sociodemographic profiles of patients prescribed high-dose opioids. DESIGN: Cross-sectional cohort study. SETTING/PATIENTS: Veterans dually-enrolled in Veterans Health Administration and Medicare Part D, with = 1 opioid pre-scription in 2012. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We identified five patient-level demographic characteristics and 12 community variables re-flective of region, socioeconomic deprivation, safety, and internet connectivity. Our outcome was the proportion of vet-erans receiving > 120 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) for = 90 consecutive days, a Pharmacy Quality Alliance measure of chronic high-dose opioid prescribing. We used classification and regression tree (CART) methods to identify risk of chronic high-dose opioid prescribing for sociodemographic subgroups. RESULTS: Overall, 17,271 (3.3 percent) of 525,716 dually enrolled veterans were prescribed chronic high-dose opioids. CART analyses identified 35 subgroups using four sociodemographic and five community-level measures, with high-dose opioid prescribing ranging from 0.28 percent to 12.1 percent. The subgroup (n = 16,302) with highest frequency of the outcome included veterans who were with disability, age 18-64 years, white or other race, and lived in the Western Census region. The subgroup (n = 14,835) with the lowest frequency of the outcome included veterans who were with-out disability, did not receive Medicare Part D Low Income Subsidy, were > 85 years old, and lived in communities within the second and sixth to tenth deciles of community public assistance. CONCLUSIONS: Using CART analyses with sociodemographic and community-level variables only, we identified sub-groups of veterans with a 43-fold difference in chronic high-dose opioid prescriptions. Interactions among disability, age, race/ethnicity, and region should be considered when identifying high-risk subgroups in large populations.