Mayo Clinic study finds disparities in opioid treatment access for women, people of color

(ABC 6 News) – A new Mayo Clinic study shows disparities in opioid treatment access for women and people of color.

According to Mayo Clinic, the study published Friday, June 3, looked at data from Optum Labs from 2014-2020. Researchers examined 3,110 filled prescriptions of Buprenorphine from 72,055 emergency department visits across the U.S.

Buprenorphine is a prescription drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that effectively treats opioid addiction. The study says, while access to the medication increased for all groups studied, it was consistently lower for people of color, women and those 41 and older.

Mayo Clinic researchers note that people with socioeconomic advantages, white, male or younger were more likely to receive the prescription drug.

Researcher say the solution to close the gap is to get more physicians to prescribe the drug whenever appropriate. These findings will be presented on Sunday June 5, 2022 at the Academy Health Annual Research meeting in Washington, D.C., by lead author Maria Stevens, a Mayo Clinic researcher.

Click here for the full study.