OpenAnesthesia and the APSF: Achieving Safe and Quality Anesthesia Care with Education Innovation

It is estimated that 10-14% of all physicians will suffer from substance use disorder over their lifetime. In addition, it has been reported that anesthesiologists are over-represented at addiction treatment facilities in the US, with 2.5 times greater attendance than other physician groups. This is most likely due to the immediate access that anesthesiologists have to opioids, sedatives, and other anesthetic drugs. Given this fact, it is especially important for anesthesiologists to be aware of the risk factors for substance abuse to potentially identify at-risk colleagues.

The strongest risk factor for the development of substance use disorder is a family history of drug or alcohol abuse/dependence in a first degree relative. The origin of the disease often begins with developmental and environmental exposure in combination with inherited and other genetic factors that create a chemical and neural milieu that is prone to addiction. Other risk factors include, but are not limited to, a history of childhood abuse, male gender, coexisting mental health disease, and experimenting with drugs and alcohol at a young age.