Marissa Seamans, PhD
Associations Between Household Polypharmacy and Adherence to Medications for Substance Use Disorders and Health Outcomes
Summary
Medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) have the potential to improve the health and well-being of more than 2.1 million Americans with OUD and 14.1 million with AUD; however, long-term adherence to these medications is alarmingly poor. Household availability of opioids, benzodiazepines, and other medications with high risk of misuse may be risk factors for poor treatment adherence in patients with substance use disorders (SUD) but have not been explored. This research aims to 1) develop prediction models to identify patients prescribed medications for SUD at risk of suboptimal adherence, and 2) determine whether household polypharmacy is associated with poor medication adherence and substance use-related adverse events among commercial insurance and Medicaid beneficiaries. This project will fill a critical gap in our understanding of whether medication use by family members influences SUD medication utilization and outcomes, and will provide evidence to inform and tailor interventions to improve SUD medication adherence in these populations.
The PhRMA Foundation Research Starter Grant in Health Outcomes Research has been instrumental in launching my career as an independent scientist by providing support to acquire health insurance claims data to conduct pharmacoepidemiologic studies of substance use disorder treatment.
