A study of opioid use among workers' compensation claimants reveals that longer-term use increased in nearly half of the 21 states analyzed compared to a similar study conducted a year ago. 

The study, “Longer-Term Use of Opioids,” conducted by the Workers Compensation Research Institute, finds that longer-term use–defined by WCRI as claimants who were prescribed opioids within the first three months after a non-surgical injury and had three or more visits to fill opioid prescriptions between 7 and 12 months after the injury–increased in 10 of the study states, with the highest year-to-year increases in Arkansas (3 percent increase), Michigan (2 percent) and New York (2 percent). 

New York and Louisiana showed the highest increases over a two-year period (3 percent). Louisiana and New York also recorded the highest overall percentage of non-surgical claimants who were defined by the study as longer-term users (17 percent and 14 percent respectively). By contrast, Arizona and Wisconsin showed the lowest percentage of longer-term users (3 percent and 4 percent respectively).