Association of Opioid Use With Cardiometabolic Disease Risk Factors: Evidence From the 2009-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objective To investigate the association between opioid drug use and cardiometabolic risk factors in an adult sample data acquired from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Methods A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was performed using the data from the NHANES for the period 2009-2018 provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), amounting to a total of N = 10,032 eligible participants. The data were analyzed to study the relationship between opioid drug use (dividing into four dichotomy groups: drug use (DU) group, illicit drug use (IDU) group, repeated drug use (RDU) group, and current drug use (CDU) group) and cardiometabolic disease risk factors (CDRF) (i.e., hypertension, abnormal triglyceride levels, low-level of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), high waist circumference, insulin resistance, serum cotinine levels, higher C-reactive protein, hypercholesterolemia, and increased BMI). The statistical correlation was evaluated using the chi-square analysis, and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Alcohol use, age, race, ethnicity, education level, and poverty to income ratio (PIR) were analyzed as covariates. Results Overall, our analysis found that males were more likely than females (p ≤ 0.001) to have ever reported using drugs at least once in their lifetime. In fact, males were more likely than females to report ever using cocaine (p = 0.01), heroin (p = 0.01), and marijuana (p = 0.01). Additionally, males were significantly more likely than females to disclose the current use of illicit drugs (p = 0.002), and also tend to have consumed more with at least 12 alcoholic beverages per year (p < 0.001). Overall, we found no association between substance use and having a cluster of three or more CDRF variables for both males and females. Conclusion Study results highlight the prevalence of gender differences in DU and its reporting. With the rising popularity of illicit drugs, clinicians must be aware of its association with CDRF.