LAUSR

The Department of Health and Human Services recently reported that 10.3 million people misused opioid drugs in 2018. Recent research attributed 21% of the deaths from opioid overdose to benzodiazepines. The overdose data and clinical experience show that opioid misusers commonly complain of insomnia and use hypnotic medications to self-medicate their sleep disturbance. At the same time, it remains unclear from a scientific perspective whether those who use/abuse opioids are more likely to use drugs in the sedative-hypnotic medication category. Consequently, the present study explores the relationship between comorbid use of opioids and sedative-hypnotic medications. We extracted data from the 2015–2018 waves of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (N=171,766). The primary outcome was the use of sedative-hypnotic medications, either in the z-class (zaleplon, zolpidem, eszopiclone) or sedating benzodiazepines (temazepam, flurazepam, triazolam). The primary exposures were prescription use of an opioid or abuse of an opioid (i.e., use of an illegal opioid such as heroin or misuse of a prescription opioid). Covariates included age, sex, race, income, education, and predicted mental illness category (none, mild, moderate, severe). Exposures were balanced on covariates using inverse probability of treatment weighting. Sequential binomial logistic regression estimated the association between opioid use/abuse and sedative-hypnotic use after adjusting for covariates. Opioid use and abuse varied by age, sex, race, education, and income (all p < 0.001). When adjusted for age, sex, and race (Model 1), sedative benzodiazepine use was more common among opioid users (OR 4.4 [4.04–4.79] and opioid abusers (OR 11.9 [9.72–14.5]). The use of z-class drugs was also more prevalent in opioid users (OR 3.69 [3.48–3.89]) and abusers (OR 7.74 [6.97–8.60]). Further adjusting for income and education (Model 2) and mental illness category (Model 3) attenuated but did not eliminate these associations. Individuals who use or abuse opioids are significantly more likely to receive a sedative-hypnotic medication, a finding that is of concern and one that also suggests that sleep disturbance is common in this population. Further research is needed to determine the underlying nature and prevalence of sleep continuity disturbances in this population. VA grant IK2CX000855 and I01 CX001957 (S.C.).