Appendix A. Descriptive statistics by race/ethnicity from the Medical Expenditure Panel Study 2010-2012 (weighted)
Race/Ethnicity P Value
Variable Full sample
Non- Hispanic
White
Non-Hispanic
Black Hispanic Asian Other race
Received an opioid prescription (%) 35.8 35.4 46.9 31.2 19.4 49.7 0.000
Had physical therapy (%) 31.9 32.4 29.2 32.1 29.5 23.6 0.471
Education (%)
Less than high school 26.7 25.7 29.8 28.7 30.2 41.6 0.006
High school 22.5 22.4 27.6 25.9 9.9 17.0 0.003
Some college 22.6 22.3 26.1 27.7 13.6 21.3 0.117
College and beyond 28.3 29.6 16.5 17.7 46.3 20.0 0.000
Female (%) 56.5 55.2 62.1 60.3 65.5 64.5 0.031
Income to poverty ratio (%)
Less than 100% 11.3 9.5 24.0 17.3 12.1 21.2 0.000
100-125% 3.2 2.9 5.2 4.9 1.2 5.5 0.013
125-200% 11.8 10.9 18.1 18.9 8.1 11.0 0.000
200-400% 29.3 29.6 26.8 28.6 32.2 25.6 0.651
More than 400% 44.5 47.1 25.9 30.4 46.4 36.7 0.000
Marital status (%)
Married 61.0 63.1 39.8 57.7 62.9 56.2 0.000
Never married 16.2 14.7 30.9 20.7 16.5 15.5 0.000
Widowed 6.3 6.7 6.4 3.6 5.9 - 0.029
Divorced 14.4 14.0 17.8 14.1 11.6 21.9 0.174
Separated 2.1 1.6 5.1 3.9 3.0 6.4 0.000
Insurance status (%)
Uninsured 7.1 6.0 10.8 18.4 10.3 5.7 0.000
Public insurance 19.5 17.9 30.2 22.2 21.9 33.6 0.000
Private insurance 73.4 76.1 59.0 59.4 67.9 60.7 0.000
Self-rated health (%)
Excellent 14.2 14.7 11.0 9.1 18.1 13.0 0.049
Very good 29.1 30.2 21.2 26.2 25.7 24.9 0.017
Good 32.3 31.8 33.2 34.4 38.5 34.0 0.527
Fair 16.5 15.6 24.3 21.3 14.1 13.6 0.000
Poor 7.7 7.5 10.1 8.8 3.6 14.5 0.038
Live in MSA (%) 81.1 79.2 88.4 89.9 99.0 82.2 0.000
Appendix B. Risk-adjusted odds ratios of predictors of opioid prescription receipt for back pain, 2010-2012 (weighted).
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Had physical therapy 0.61** 0.73** 0.78**
(0.512 - 0.734) (0.604 - 0.877) (0.640 - 0.940) Race/ethnicity (ref: Non-
Hispanic White)
Non-Hispanic Black 1.60** 1.35** 1.25*
(1.291 - 1.982) (1.077 - 1.704) (1.011 - 1.492)
Hispanic 0.82 0.71* 0.65*
(0.611 – 1.090) (0.513 - 0.982) (0.460 - 0.929)
Asian 0.43** 0.44** 0.44**
(0.279 - 0.666) (0.283 - 0.682) (0.275 - 0.696)
Other race 1.74* 1.43 1.44
(1.100 - 2.747) (0.924 - 2.220) (0.907 - 2.277) Education (ref: College and
beyond)
Less than high school 1.63** 1.43**
(1.263 – 2.116) (1.090 - 1.877)
High school 1.50** 1.42**
(1.167 - 1.931) (1.094 - 1.846)
Some college 1.54** 1.47**
(1.195 – 1.992) (1.129 - 1.925)
Female 0.92 0.94
(0.774 - 1.084) (0.784 - 1.117) Income to poverty ratio (ref:
More than 400%)
<100% 2.35** 1.54**
(1.767 - 3.137) (1.126 – 2.118)
100-125% 2.10** 1.57*
(1.402 - 3.150) (1.021 - 2.401)
125-200% 1.79** 1.46**
(1.373 - 2.333) (1.123 - 1.907)
200-400% 1.51** 1.36**
(1.221 - 1.863) (1.087 - 1.696) Insurance status (ref: Private
insurance)
Uninsured 0.87 0.79
(0.638 - 1.190) (0.576 - 1.092)
Public insurance 1.43** 1.17
(1.152 - 1.776) (0.923 - 1.475) Marital status (ref: Married)
Never married 0.63** 0.71*
(0.490 - 0.821) (0.541 - 0.926)
Widowed 0.74 0.74
(0.533 - 1.021) (0.532 - 1.032)
Divorced 1.10 1.11
(0.884 - 1.375) (0.873 - 1.401)
Separated 1.09 1.10
0.63** 0.71*
Self-rated health (ref: Excellent)
Good 1.69**
(1.370 – 2.081)
Fair 4.17**
(3.261 – 5.336)
Poor 7.33**
(5.261 – 10.20)
** p<0.01, * p<0.05. Model 3 includes census region, MSA, year dummies
