Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35224768›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association2022

Broadband internet subscription rates and opioid prescribing via telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Douglas R Oyler, Svetla Slavova, Patricia R Freeman, Zhengyan Huang, Jeffery Talbert, Sharon L Walsh, Philip M Westgate

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.4field-weighted citation impact, top 20% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Broadband internet subscription rates and opioid prescribing via telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association · 2022
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Douglas R OylerDepartment of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6153-831X
Svetla SlavovaDepartment of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Patricia R FreemanDepartment of Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Zhengyan HuangDepartment of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Jeffery TalbertDepartment of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Sharon L WalshDepartment of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
Philip M WestgateDepartment of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
University of Kentucky · US

Funding

MassHEAL - Reducing overdose deaths by 40% (2019-2023)UM1DA049412 · NIDA · BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER · PI SAMET, JEFFREY H. · 2019 to 2023
$82.9M
Kentucky CAN HEAL (Communities and Networks Helping End Addiction Long-term)UM1DA049406 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI WALSH, SHARON L. · 2019 to 2022
$81.7M
CHASE: An Innovative County-Level Public Health Response to the Opioid Epidemic in New York StateUM1DA049415 · NIDA · COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE · PI EL-BASSEL, NABILA, GILBERT, LOUISA · 2019 to 2023
$77.3M
Optimizing HEALing in Ohio Communities (OHiO)-Health Equity SupplementUM1DA049417 · NIDA · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · PI FREISTHLER, BRIDGET J, WINHUSEN, T JOHN · 2019 to 2023
$66.3M
HEALing Communities Study Health Equity ResearchUM1DA049394 · NIDA · RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE · PI GLASGOW, LASHAWN, OGA, EMMANUEL AJA · 2019 to 2023
$40.6M
NIDA NIH HHS UM1 DA049394NIDA NIH HHS UM1 DA049406NIDA NIH HHS UM1 DA049412NIDA NIH HHS UM1 DA049415NIDA NIH HHS UM1 DA049417
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US DEA allowed controlled substance prescriptions to be issued following a telemedicine encounter. This study evaluated changes in opioid prescribing in Kentucky counties with low and high rates of broadband subscription before, during, and after a series of statewide emergency declarations that may have affected health care access.

methodsThe study used the prescription drug monitoring program to analyze records of opioid analgesic prescriptions dispensed to opioid-naïve individuals in high (N = 26) and low (N = 94) broadband access counties during 3 periods: before a state of emergency (SOE) and executive order (EO) limiting nonemergent health care services (January 2019-February 2020), while the EO was active (March-April 2020), and after health care services began reopening (May-December 2020). Marginal generalized estimating equations-type negative binomial models were fit to compare prescription counts by broadband access over the 3 periods.

findingsRates of opioid dispensing to opioid-naïve individuals decreased significantly during the EO, but increased nearly to pre-SOE levels after health care services began reopening. Dispensing rates in low broadband counties were higher than those in high broadband counties during all time periods, although these differences were negligible after adjusting for potential confounders. During the EO, prescriptions were written for longer days' supply in both county types.

conclusionsThe overall dramatic reduction in opioid prescribing rates should be considered when evaluating annual opioid prescribing trends. However, broadband subscription rate did not appear to influence opioid prescriptions dispensed in Kentucky during the EO.

Indexed as

COVID-19COVID-19 Drug TreatmentTelemedicineAnalgesics, OpioidControlled SubstancesHumansInternetPandemicsPractice Patterns, Physicians'Analgesics, OpioidControlled SubstancesCOVID-19opioidtelemedicine

Identifiers

PMID35224768
PMCPMC9115233
OpenAlexW4214557953

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.