National trends in reported past year opioid misuse among black women.

BACKGROUND: The opioid crisis within the United States has been widely studied; however, some gaps within the literature still exist. There is limited information on trends in opioid misuse as it relates to income among a national sample of Black Women. Given the recent increase in opioid overdose deaths in Black Americans and the vulnerability of women who misuse opioids, research in this population is important. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate trends of past year opioid misuse (PYOM) among Black women by income over the study period. METHODS: A cross-sectional study among adult aged Black women captured in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2015 to 2019 was conducted. Descriptive statistics for all study variables was conducted. Weighted logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate predictors of PYOM. A stratified analysis was also conducted to examine possible differences between income strata on predictors of PYOM. RESULTS: A total of 15,196 Black women were included in the study (16,008,921 weighted visits). Among the women included, 41.5% were age 50+, 57.7% were unemployed, 63.8% reported very good/good health, 59.5% had past year alcohol use, 44.1% had never been married, 39.1% received government assistance, and 90.1% resided in a metro area. An estimated 3.14% of Black women reported PYOM. Findings from the regression analysis showed that Black women who were between 18 and 25, had past year major depressive episode, had alcohol use, illicit drug use, and who received government assistance had significantly greater odds of PYOM. Those reporting an excellent general health rating and higher education had significantly lower odds of PYOM. Income was not associated with PYOM in this study. CONCLUSION: Overall, income was not found to be a significant predictor of PYOM. However, income was found to modify the effects of major depressive episode and alcohol use on PYOM, especially among Black women who reported earning ≥$75,000/year. These findings suggest that high-earning Black women may be just as at risk for opioid misuse as low-earning Black women. Further studies are warranted to explore these effects among other gender/racial groups to determine if this trend is unique to Black women.

Factors Associated With Health Literacy and Medication Adherence in an Urban Community.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study is to determine factors associated with health literacy and medication adherence in an urban community. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess factors associated with health literacy and medication adherence. Participants were recruited from October 2012 to April 2013. SETTING: Ambulatory care clinic and senior wellness center. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were eligible if they were older than 18 years of age and had received care at the ambulatory clinic or obtained services at the senior wellness center. INTERVENTIONS: REALM survey and the Morisky 8-Item Medication Adherence Questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The two outcomes evaluated in this study were health literacy and medication adherence. RESULTS: A total of 51 participants were enrolled in the study. Twenty-seven (53%) of the participants were noted to be nonadherent to their medications. Twenty (74%) of these participants read below the high school level, and the remaining 7 (26%) read above a high school level. Study findings showed that both education level and comorbidities status were associated with health literacy. Participants who had a below high school education level had greater odds of having a below high school health literacy level (odds ratio [OR] = 7.500, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.482-37.949). Participants who had two or more comorbidities had greater odds of having a below high school health literacy level (OR = 24.889, 95% CI 2.698-229.610). CONCLUSION: Our study results found associations between both comorbidities and education with health literacy.