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Data Resources

Analyzing Prescription Data and Morphine Milligram Equivalents (MME)

CDC’s Injury Center has compiled a listing of medications at the National Drug Code level to help with analyzing prescription data for the purpose of preventing prescription drug misuse, abuse, and overdose. In addition to prescription benzodiazepines, muscle relaxants, stimulants, and sedatives, the file contains opioids with their oral morphine milligram equivalent (MME) conversion factors. The following information is provided for all drugs: product name, generic name, form, DEA Schedule, strength, and unit of measure. Please see the Documentation within the data files for the MME per day formula.

These files below may be useful for:

  • Researchers
  • Pharmacy benefit managers
  • Prescription monitoring programs
  • Others who analyze prescription data for the purpose of preventing prescription drug misuse, abuse, and overdose.

Use of this file for clinical decision-making warrants caution. The MME conversion factor is intended only for analytic purposes where prescription data are used to calculate MME to inform analyses of risks associated with opioid prescribing for pain. The conversion factors for drugs prescribed or provided as part of medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder should not be used to benchmark against dosage thresholds meant for opioids prescribed for pain. In addition, the conversion factors do not constitute clinical guidance or recommendations. For guidance on dosage of opioids for treatment of chronic pain, including conversion factors for commonly prescribed opioids, please see the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. Note that when converting from one opioid to another, the new opioid is typically dosed substantially lower than the current calculated MME dose.

For guidance regarding converting patients from one form of opioid pain medication to another, or for guidance on dosing of medication-assisted treatments for opioid use disorder, please consult the manufacturers’ full prescribing information.

Data Files

Data files of select controlled substances including opioids with oral morphine milligram equivalent (MME) conversion factors, 2017 version.

Download

SAS Merging Program

This SAS program merges a data file containing dispensed controlled drug information (e.g., an outpatient prescription drug file) with CDC’s data file of controlled substances with MME conversion factors.

Download

SAS Merging Program [SAS – 23 KB]

Additional Data Sources

  • U.S. Opioid Prescribing Rate Maps
    The data in the maps show the geographic distribution in the United States, at both state and county levels, of retail opioid prescriptions dispensed per 100 persons from 2006–2016.
  • WONDER
    CDC’s WONDER (Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research) is an easy-to-use, menu-driven system that makes the information resources of the CDC available to public health professionals and the public at large. It provides access to a wide array of public health information.
  • WISQARS
    CDC’s WISQARS™ (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) is an interactive, online database that provides fatal and nonfatal injury, violent death, and cost of injury data from a variety of trusted sources.
  • CDC Data & Statistics
    This web site features interactive tools, surveys, publications, databases, and more.
  • CMS Medicare Part D Opioid Drug Mapping Tool
    Interactive mapping tool that shows geographic comparisons, at the state, county, and ZIP code levels
  • NCHS Data Visualization Gallery: Drug Poisoning Mortality: United States, 1999-2015
    The storyboard presents drug poisoning deaths at the national, state, and county levels. They depict U.S. and state trends in age-adjusted death rates for drug poisoning from 1999 to 2015 by selected demographic characteristics, and a dashboard presents a series of heat maps of model-based county estimates for drug poisoning mortality from 1999 to 2015.

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