ArticleAmerican journal of industrial medicine2021
Predictors of long-term opioid use and opioid use disorder among construction workers: Analysis of claims data.
Article in American journal of industrial medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mental Health in Construction Industry: A Global Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Pooled it
- Suicide and Drug Overdose Mortality Among Washington State Workers: A Stratified Analysis by Industry, Occupation, Sex, and Race/Ethnicity, 2014-2023.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- The geography of risk: understanding disparities in nonmedical opioid mortality and the role of socio-built environments in New Jersey.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Opioid dose, duration, and risk of use disorder in Medicaid patients with musculoskeletal pain.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Understanding the rise in drug mortality rates among black Americans in the 2010s: Associations with county-level construction job shares in the United States.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Employment industry and opioid overdose risk: A pre- and post-COVID-19 comparison in Kentucky and Massachusetts 2018-2021.Spatial and spatio-temporal epidemiology · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Workplace Drug Policies, Opioid Misuse, and Psychological Distress: Evidence From the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.New solutions : a journal of environmental and occupational health policy : NS · 2024Article
- Opioid therapy trajectories of patients with chronic non-cancer pain over 1 year of follow-up after initiation of short-acting opioid formulations.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Perceptions of mental health, suicide and working conditions in the construction industry-A qualitative study.PloS one · 2024Article
- An Artificial Intelligence-Based Smartphone App for Assessing the Risk of Opioid Misuse in Working Populations Using Synthetic Data: Pilot Development Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- A Health-Impact Assessment of an Ergonomic Measure to Reduce the Risk of Work-Related Lower Back Pain, Lumbosacral Radicular Syndrome and Knee Osteoarthritis among Floor Layers in The Netherlands.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Pain and Prescription Opioid Use Among US Construction Workers: Findings From the 2011‒2018 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.American journal of public health · 2022Article
- It Is Time to Implement Primary Prevention in the Workplace to Ameliorate the Ongoing U.S. Opioid Epidemic.New solutions : a journal of environmental and occupational health policy : NS · 2021Article
- Physical therapists should play a greater role in managing patients with opioid use and opioid misuse.Substance abuse · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundConstruction workers have high rates of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, which lead to frequent opioid use and opioid use disorder (OUD). This paper quantified the incidence of opioid use and OUD among construction workers with and without musculoskeletal disorders.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective study using union health claims from January 2015 to June 2018 from 19,909 construction workers. Claims for diagnoses of chronic musculoskeletal disorders, acute musculoskeletal injuries, musculoskeletal surgery, and other conditions were linked to new opioid prescriptions. We examined the effects of high doses (≥50 morphine mg equivalents per day), large supply (more than 7 days per fill), long-term opioid use (60 or more days supplied within a calendar quarter), and musculoskeletal disorders, on the odds of a future OUD.
resultsThere were high rates (42.8% per year) of chronic musculoskeletal disorders among workers, of whom 24.1% received new opioid prescriptions and 6.3% received long-term opioid prescriptions per year. Workers receiving opioids for chronic musculoskeletal disorders had the highest odds of future OUD: 4.71 (95% confidence interval 3.09-7.37); workers prescribed long-term opioids in any calendar quarter had a nearly 10-fold odds of developing an OUD.
conclusionsAmong construction workers, opioids initiated for musculoskeletal pain were strongly associated with incident long-term opioid use and OUD. Musculoskeletal pain from physically demanding work is likely one driver of the opioid epidemic in occupations like construction. Prevention of work injuries and alternative pain management are needed for workers at risk for musculoskeletal injuries.
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