The Abuse of Prescription Medications and Employment History

Abstract

Objective:

The relationship between prescription medication abuse and employment history is rarely studied and is the focus of the present study.

Method:

Using a cross-sectional consecutive sample of 325 internal medicine outpatients and a self-report survey methodology, we examined prescription medication abuse (“Have you ever intentionally, or on purpose, abused prescription medications?”) and four employment variables.

Results:

We found statistically significant relationships between the abuse of prescription medications and all four employment variables—i.e., number of different jobs held since age 18 (5.05 in nonabusers versus 7.81 in past abusers), estimated percentage of time employed since age 18 (79.0% in nonabusers versus 63.3% in past abusers), being paid “under the table” (24.9% in nonabusers versus 77.4% in past abusers), and being fired (37.2% in nonabusers versus 64.5% in past abusers)—all indicating less employment viability in participants with past histories of prescription medication abuse.

Conclusions:

The abuse of prescription medications is associated with impaired functionality in the work arena.