TY - JOUR
T1 - Urine drug tests
T2 - Ordering and interpretation
AU - Kale, Neelima
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Academy of Family Physicians.
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Urine drug testing is an essential component of monitoring patients who are receiving long-term opioid therapy, and it has been suggested for patients receiving long-term benzodiazepine or stimulant therapy. Family physicians should be familiar with the characteristics and capabilities of screening and confirmatory drug tests. Immunoassays are qualitative tests used for initial screening of urine samples. They can give false-positive and false-negative results, so all results are considered presumptive until confirmatory testing is performed. Immunoassays for opioids may not detect commonly prescribed semisynthetic and synthetic opioids such as methadone and fentanyl;similarly, immunoassays for benzodiazepines may not detect alprazolam or clonazepam. Immunoassays can cross-react with other medications and give false-positive results, which have important implications for a patient’s pain treatment plan. False-negative results can cause missed opportunities to detect misuse. Urine samples can be adulterated with other substances to mask positive results on urine drug testing. Family physicians must be familiar with these substances, the methods to detect them, and their effects on urine drug testing.
AB - Urine drug testing is an essential component of monitoring patients who are receiving long-term opioid therapy, and it has been suggested for patients receiving long-term benzodiazepine or stimulant therapy. Family physicians should be familiar with the characteristics and capabilities of screening and confirmatory drug tests. Immunoassays are qualitative tests used for initial screening of urine samples. They can give false-positive and false-negative results, so all results are considered presumptive until confirmatory testing is performed. Immunoassays for opioids may not detect commonly prescribed semisynthetic and synthetic opioids such as methadone and fentanyl;similarly, immunoassays for benzodiazepines may not detect alprazolam or clonazepam. Immunoassays can cross-react with other medications and give false-positive results, which have important implications for a patient’s pain treatment plan. False-negative results can cause missed opportunities to detect misuse. Urine samples can be adulterated with other substances to mask positive results on urine drug testing. Family physicians must be familiar with these substances, the methods to detect them, and their effects on urine drug testing.
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M3 - Article
C2 - 30600984
AN - SCOPUS:85059418592
SN - 0002-838X
VL - 99
SP - 33, 39A
JO - American Family Physician
JF - American Family Physician
IS - 1
ER -