OBJECTIVES : To examine the existence of racial disparities, in terms of prescription of opioids, among prostate cancer patients.

METHODS : We used retrospective, cross sectional research data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) database for the years 2013-2015 and extracted information on patient characteristics, opioid prescription and medical conditions from the appropriate datasets. Chi square tests were used to determine the differences in the distribution of covariates between groups. Multivariable logistic regression was used to test the association between ethnicities and prescription patterns. The outcome of interest was prescription of at least one opioid in the year in which the patient was coded as a prostate cancer patient. Survey weights were used for all procedures carried out as MEPS oversamples minorities to give them sufficient power. All analyses were carried out using SAS 9.4.

RESULTS : The study consisted of a population of 8,670,767 patients (across 4 years) who had a diagnosis of prostate cancer. Out of these, 491,632 were Hispanic, 6,747,384 were non-Hispanic whites, 1,149,621 were non-Hispanic blacks and 282,130 were from other races. In the unadjusted bivariate analyses, 15.89% of Hispanics, 20.83% of non-Hispanic whites, 20.69% of non-Hispanic blacks and 38.40% of other races had at least one opioid prescription among those who had prostate cancer. After adjusting for covariates, we found that, compared to Non-Hispanic whites, odds ratios for being prescribed opioids were 0.490 (95% CI 0.214-1.123), 0.745 (95%CI 0.429-1.293) and 2.550 (95% CI 0.947-6.863) for Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks and other ethnic groups, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS : Using MEPS data for the years 2013-2015, we conclude that there were no differences in opioid prescription patterns across different racial groups diagnosed with prostate cancer.