54% of Patients Misuse Prescription Drugs

Quest Diagnostics recently released a national study on prescription drug misuse. Here are some key findings from the report:

·         54% of patient results tested in 2015 showed evidence of prescription drug misuse.

·         The misuse rate declined 14% from 63% in 2011.

·         45% had test results that showed evidence of other drugs in addition to their prescribed drug(s).

·         The rate of patients combining drugs was 35% in both 2014 and 2013.

·         Nearly 1 in 3 patients (28.6%) who used heroin combined it with benzodiazepines.

·         From 2001 to 2014, there was a five-fold increase in the total number of deaths related to benzodiazepines.

Source: Quest Diagnostics, July 26, 2016