Final answer:
The statement is True. Despite older adults generally adhering to prescription medication use, this does not pertain to pain medications, especially opioids, due to their high potential for addiction and serious side effects. The opioid crisis further complicates this with many users transitioning to heroin after misusing prescription painkillers.
Step-by-step explanation:
True or False: Although older adults are generally more adherent to prescription use than younger populations, this trend does not hold when it comes to medications prescribed particularly for pain. The statement is True. Older adults, such as those in Florida experiencing age-related chronic pain, have shown high levels of prescription medication adherence. However, the situation changes with pain medications, particularly opioids.
The opioid crisis, significantly affecting older adults, escalated due to aggressive marketing and the over-prescription of opioid drugs, like OxyContin, which were initially claimed to be non-addictive. The transition from medically-prescribed opioids to heroin is not uncommon, as approximately 80 percent of new heroin users in 2014 reported starting out by misusing prescription painkillers. Factors like physiological addiction occurring in less than a week and the occurrence of withdrawal symptoms can lead to a continued use of opioids beyond their initial prescription.
It is essential to understand that while effective in pain management, opioids come with a high risk of addiction and other serious side effects. As a result, their use must be strictly supervised by a doctor, contrasting the assumption that elderly adherence to pain medication aligns with their general adherence to other prescribed medications.