The “ Centre Ressource Lyonnais des Addictions Médicamenteuses ” (CERLAM), i.e., Lyon Resource Center for Prescription Drug Addiction, is a specialized addiction unit for all types of prescription drug use disorders. Using the structured initial assessment of the center, the specific profile of patients with prescription opioid (OUD) or benzodiazepine use disorder (BUD) was explored.

The structured initial CERLAM assessment includes age, gender, international standardized classification of education (ISCED), DSM-5 criteria for OUD or BUD, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), World Health Organization Quality of Life – 26-item version (WHOQOL-BREF), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI), respectively. Two multivariable logistic regression models explored the profile of OUD (vs. non-OUD) patients and BUD (vs. non-BUD patients), providing adjusted odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals (aOR[95%CI]).

One hundred and eighty-four patients were included (54.9% females; mean age 44.7 ± 13.4 years), among whom 107 (58.2%) had an OUD, and 86 (46.7%) a BUD. When compared with non-OUD patients, those with prescription OUD were more frequently females (aOR = 1.97 [1.04–3.73]), had a lower ISCED (aOR = 0.55 [0.42–0.72]), and a lower physical WHOQOL-BREF score (aOR = 0.93 [0.88–0.99]). By contrast, when compared with non-BUD patients, those with BUD had a greater ISCED (aOR = 2.04 [1.54–2.72]), reduced psychological (aOR = 0.93 [0.87–0.99]) and social (aOR = 0.86 [0.76–0.96]) WHOQOL-BREF scores, greater HAD depression (aOR = 1.10 [1.03–1.18]) and PSQI (aOR = 1.13 [1.04–1.23]) scores, respectively.

In patients with prescription drug use disorders, those with BUD and those with OUD exhibit specific sociodemographic and psychological features, that need to be identified and treated independently.