摘要：We assessed the nonmedical use of prescription opioids (NMUPO) among adolescents who participate in competitive sports. Using data from Monitoring the Future, we found that adolescent participants in high-injury sports had 50% higher odds of NMUPO than adolescents who did not participate in these types of sports (i.e., nonparticipants and participants in other sports). Detecting certain subpopulations of youths at risk for NMUPO should be a central concern among health care providers. Nonmedical use of prescription opioids (NMUPO) among adolescents in the United States has increased over the past 15 years. 1–3 The 2011 Monitoring the Future data indicated that 15.2% of high school seniors used controlled medications nonmedically in the past 12 months, with acetaminophen and hydrocodone and oxycodone hydrochloride topping the list of specific opioid medications. 3 This increasing trend in nonmedical use should be no surprise given that the percentage of adolescents who were prescribed controlled medications at ambulatory medical centers almost doubled between 1994 and 2007, from 6.4% to 11.2%. 4 Since 1994, there also has been an increase in interscholastic sports participation among adolescents. 5,6 In 2011, about a quarter of all US public high school students—7.5 million in total—participated in interscholastic sports. 7 Roughly 2 million high school athletic injuries occur each year, 8–10 and about a quarter of emergency department visits by children and adolescents involve sports-related injuries, many of which require some type of intervention to help control pain. 11 Because of their increased access to opioid medications through prescriptions or handouts from injured teammates, sports participants could be at higher risk for NMUPO. 3,12 We sought to determine whether adolescents who participate in sports are more likely to report NMUPO than those who do not.
