SHREVEPORT, La. — In February, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began a 60-day period to gather feedback from doctors and people with chronic pain to that it can update its opioid prescription guidance.
Louise Bryde
Since 2006, the national average of prescriptions of opioid medications has declined. But a cluster of six states in the southwest part of the country still has well over the national average. Louisiana is one of them.
“The U.S. average rate from the standpoint of opioid dispensing rate was just over 43 prescriptions per 100 persons. That’s the unit that they utilized,” said Louise Bryde, a principal at Stroudwater Associations, which works with the CDC in collecting data. “So that was the national average. Louisiana for that same time period was just over 68 prescriptions per 100 persons.”
That means that for every 100 people, 68 prescriptions for opioids have been dispensed. It does not mean that 68 people had prescriptions. Some of that number could account for multiple prescriptions for a single person.
Caddo Parish has the highest rate of opioid prescriptions in Louisiana.
“So Caddo Parish, as you I think saw is actually a well over 100 prescriptions per 100 persons,” Bryde said. “And so that’s obviously very significantly above both your statewide rate and then even further, you know, above the national rate.”
In fact, the actual data for Caddo Parish shows 134 prescriptions per 100 people. Rapides Parish is the second highest in the state with 117 prescriptions dispensed. Orleans Parish, where New Orleans is located, has a prescription rate of 87 per 100 people, which is still far above the national average, but not near as high as Caddo.
In the coming days, KTBS will dive deeper into the problem of opioid prescriptions, how primary care plays a role, and what the public can do to help.
