The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, also noted that these patients are at a "high risk" for experiencing a repeated overdose.
For the study, researchers used Optum, a large national commercial insurance claims database with data on 50 million individuals collected over a 12-year period.
The researchers identified nearly 3,000 patients who experienced a non-fatal overdose while taking opioids prescribed for chronic pain. The data showed 91 percent of those patients continued to be prescribed opioids after the overdose.
In addition, 70 percent received prescriptions from the same provider who prescribed them opioids before their initial overdose.
At two years follow-up, patients who continued taking high dosages of opioids were twice as likely to have another overdose compared to those who discontinued opioid use after the overdose, the study found.
The study's findings highlight the challenges faced by physicians to balance the known risks with potential benefits of prescription opioids for patients with chronic pain.
The research reinforces the importance of developing tools that will help better identify and treat patients at risk for opioid use disorders and overdose, the researchers concluded.
Source: American College of Physicians
Comment: This may explain why deaths from drug overdoses have hit an all time record in the US. BigPharma has been pushing opioids for years, thus prescriptions for these drugs have risen by 300 percent since 1999. Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137 percent, including a 200 percent increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers and heroin.