Frequency and Intensity of Depressive Symptoms and Frequency of Prescribed Opioid Use among Older Adults in the United States: Results of a National Survey

Background As part of the opioid crisis, opioid overuse is increasing in U.S. older adults. However, research on granular measures of depressive symptoms and opioid use exclusively in this population are limited. Methods Using data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey, we constructed multivariate logistic and multinomial logistic regression models to examine the association of frequency and intensity of depressive symptoms with frequency of prescribed opioid use. Results The study population consisted of 8,637 participants with a mean age of 74.3 (SD = 6.4) years. Sixteen percent of the participants used prescribed opioids. Compared with participants who never felt depressed, those who felt depressed daily (OR = 1.796, 95% CI [1.371, 2.337]), weekly (OR = 1.579, 95% CI [1.236, 2.003]), or a few times a year (OR = 1.237, 95% CI [1.077, 1.418]) had increased odds of prescribed opioid use. Compared with participants who felt a little depressed, those who felt depressed somewhere in between a little and a lot (OR = 1.538, 95% CI [1.283, 1.842]) and those who felt depressed a lot (OR = 1.784, 95% CI [1.336, 2.274]) had increased odds of prescribed opioid use. Compared with participants who never felt depressed, those who felt depressed weekly (OR = 2.295, 95% CI [1.012, 5.204]) and those who felt depressed monthly (OR = 2.385, 95% CI [1.051, 5.409]) had increased OR of using prescribed opioid every day from using prescribed opioid some days. Conclusion Frequency and intensity of depressive symptoms were independently and positively associated with prescribed opioid use.