Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will use money from a $288,714 federal grant to study prescription drug abuse among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, officials announced today.
Researchers at UAMS and Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System will study six years of data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The study will evaluate the effectiveness of VA policies on prescribing painkillers known as opioids, said UAMS assistant professor Teresa Hudson. New VA-opioid-prescribing guidelines will be released this year.
More than half the tens of thousands of veterans diagnosed with pain could receive treatment that would involve opioid painkillers.
