Barbara Andraka-Christou (
Health Aff (Millwood). 2021 Jun;40(6):920-927. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.02261.
Social discourse about the opioid crisis in the US has focused on White populations, even though opioid-related deaths have grown at a higher rate among people of color than among non-Hispanic White people in recent years. Medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) are the gold standard for treating OUD and preventing overdose but are underused among people with OUD, with disproportionately low treatment initiation and retention among people of color. Methadone, which is highly stigmatized and has a more burdensome treatment regimen, is the predominant medication for OUD available to people of color. To address disparities in the initiation and retention of treatment using medication for OUD, policy makers should consider strategies such as Medicaid expansion, increased grant funding for federally qualified health centers to provide buprenorphine treatment, retention of temporary telehealth policies that allow remote buprenorphine induction, and regulatory changes to allow methadone treatment in office-based practices.
美国阿片类药物危机的社会讨论集中在白人身上，尽管近年来，与阿片类药物相关的死亡在有色人种中的增长速度高于非西班牙裔白人。治疗阿片类药物使用障碍（OUD）的药物是治疗 OUD 和预防过量的金标准，但在患有 OUD 的人群中使用不足，有色人种人群的治疗开始和维持率不成比例地低。美沙酮是一种高度污名化且治疗方案更为繁琐的药物，是可供有色人种使用的主要 OUD 药物。为了解决在开始和维持 OUD 药物治疗方面的差异，政策制定者应考虑扩大医疗补助、增加联邦合格健康中心的拨款以提供丁丙诺啡治疗、保留允许远程丁丙诺啡诱导的临时远程医疗政策，以及调整监管以允许在基于办公室的实践中进行美沙酮治疗等策略。
