Utilization of the Parenteral Morphine in Emergency Department using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification/Defined Daily Doses (ATC/DDD) System

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the utilization of the parenteral morphine in Emergency Department (ED) using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification/Defined Daily Doses (ATC/DDD) system. METHODS: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, morphine administration was recorded in 4-year time period from January 2013 to December 2016 in the ED of a referral center. The dose of the administered morphine was evaluated using the ATC/DDD system. The ATC/DDD of the parenteral morphine was calculated based on the world health organization (WHO). The data was evaluated based on the different diagnosis and conditions using the ATC/DDD protocol. RESULTS: In this study, 500 patients referred to ED with mean age of 48.29 ± 10.10 years were included. There were 306 (61.2%) men and 194 (38.8%) women among the patients. The lowest and highest DDD of parenteral morphine were 0.1 and 0.43, respectively. The utilization of parenteral morphine was significantly higher in men when compared to women (p<0.001). Those with history of tricyclic anti-depressant (TCA) consumption (p<0.001) and opium addiction (p<0.001) had significantly higher parenteral morphine utilization. Those with pain in the extremities and chest pain had significantly higher parenteral morphine utilization (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The utilization of parenteral morphine in the ED of our center was higher than the WHO standard dosage. The morphine utilization was associated with male gender, opium addiction and TCA consumption.