By OPEN MINDS Circle
About 67% of primary care physicians surveyed said they fear they missed signs of drug misuse during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency. About half of clinical drug monitoring tests conducted by Quest Diagnostics during 2020 had signs of drug misuse of one or more drugs.
About 91% of the physicians surveyed said they felt confident about recognizing the signs of prescription drug misuse during in-office interactions with consumers; however only half had the same confidence about telehealth visits. Overall, about 75% of primary care physicians said they believe telehealth visits limit their ability to determine whether consumers are at risk for, or are already misusing, prescription drugs.
These statistics are from a Harris Poll survey of over 500 primary care professionals in the U.S., and a database containing millions of deidentified aggregated clinical drug monitoring tests by Quest Diagnostics. The goal was to assess the perspectives of primary care professionals on drug misuse in the context of the results of the drug tests.
The Quest Diagnostics data included nearly 5 million de-identified aggregated clinical drug test results ordered by physicians during 2020. The tests detect commonly prescribed and abused drugs, including pain medications, central nervous system medications including amphetamines, as well as certain illicit drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. During 2020, about 48% had evidence of drug misuse. About half of the tests indicating misuse had evidence of multi-drug use.
These findings were presented in “Drug Misuse in America 2021: Physician Perspectives and Diagnostic Insights on the Drug Crisis and COVID-19,” from Quest Diagnostics population health research program, Health Trends. The researchers analyzed the survey responses and the Quest Diagnostics drug monitoring test results.
For more information, contact: Kim Gorode, Communications, Quest Diagnostics, 500 Plaza Drive, Secaucus, New Jersey 07094; 973-520-2800; Email: mediacontact@questdiagnostics.com; Website: https://questdiagnostics.com/