Sarah E Wakeman, Eugene Lambert, Sunny Kung, Nicholas M Brisbon, Aleta D Carroll, Thu-Trang Hickman, Charles Covahey, Thomas D Sequist, Scott G Weiner
Background: Racial, sex, and age disparities in buprenorphine treatment have previously been demonstrated. We evaluated trends in buprenorphine treatment disparities before and after the onset of the COVID pandemic in Massachusetts. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from an integrated health system comparing 12-months before and after the March 2020 Massachusetts COVID state of emergency declaration, excluding March as a washout period. Among patients with a clinical encounter during the study periods with a diagnosis of opioid use disorder or opioid poisoning, we extracted outpatient buprenorphine prescription rates by age, sex, race and ethnicity, and language...
December 2022: Substance Abuse