Buprenorphine is a medication that helps wean people off illicit opioids and a new study from University of Pittsburgh researchers finds that providers are more likely to write prescriptions in areas that are very white.
The study examined buprenorphine prescribing data from 2018 at the zip code level and found that this systemic inequity manifests differently in rural and urban areas.
For ethnically and racially diverse communities that were rural, dispensed buprenorphine prescriptions were 87% lower than rural white communities. Researchers found this inequity was largely driven by a lack of medical providers within or near rural minority communities, when compared to rural white communities.
In urban areas that are racially diverse, the study found providers wrote up to 76% fewer prescriptions. But this disparity wasn’t due to a lack of providers — rather it appears the prescribers in diverse urban communities are prescribing buprenorphine to fewer patients.
In other words, while the number of prescribers in racially diverse urban areas is more equal to urban white areas, the type of care being delivered is not equal. These findings might partially explain racial disparities in overdose deaths.
“We're seeing this concerning trend where opioid overdose mortality has been getting disproportionately worse among, racial and ethnic minorities, particularly Black Americans and Native American or Alaskan Native persons,” said Coleman Drake, an assistant professor in health policy and management at Pitt's School of Public Health.
The research was published Tuesday in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, also includes contributions from researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Oregon Health and Science University, and the RAND Corporation. Study authors say more work is needed to comprehend how this disparity in buprenorphine prescribing affects health outcomes, though the findings can help policy makers better understand inequities in addiction medicine.
