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Trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in Northern Germany

INTRODUCTION: Due to their euphoric and sedative effects, opioid analgesics have high potential for abuse and dependence. In the last decade in the USA and many Western European Countries the prescription rates of opioid analgesics have steadily increased. OBJECTIVE: This study describes 5-year tren...

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Autores principales: Verthein, Uwe, Buth, Sven, Daubmann, Anne, Martens, Marcus-Sebastien, Schulte, Bernd
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7605054/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32674662
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881120936544
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author Verthein, Uwe
Buth, Sven
Daubmann, Anne
Martens, Marcus-Sebastien
Schulte, Bernd
author_facet Verthein, Uwe
Buth, Sven
Daubmann, Anne
Martens, Marcus-Sebastien
Schulte, Bernd
author_sort Verthein, Uwe
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Due to their euphoric and sedative effects, opioid analgesics have high potential for abuse and dependence. In the last decade in the USA and many Western European Countries the prescription rates of opioid analgesics have steadily increased. OBJECTIVE: This study describes 5-year trends in the prescription of opioid analgesics and risk indicators such as duration, dose and ‘doctor shopping’ in Northern Germany. METHODS: The annual rates of opioid analgesic prescriptions have been analysed for patients with statutory health insurance processed by the North German Pharmacy Data Center for the years 2011–2015. A distinction was made between non-cancer patients and cancer patients, and different groups according to prescription duration and dose level. RESULTS: Between 2011 and 2015, the annual number of patients with opioid analgesic prescriptions increased from 500,000 to 550,000. About half of non-cancer-patients (85% of the total sample) and cancer patients received opioid analgesics for 90 days or less. The rates for long-term prescriptions (⩾9 months) ranged between 6–7% for non-cancer patients and 7–8% for cancer patients. Between 1.2–1.8% received opioid analgesics in doses of more than two defined daily doses. The majority of non-cancer patients with opioid analgesic prescriptions were female. The average age of non-cancer patients was 66 years. About 80% of non-cancer patients with first opioid analgesic prescription received World Health Organization step II medication. CONCLUSION: For the first time, this study provides comprehensive patient-related analyses of opioid analgesic prescriptions in Germany over a 5-year period. Despite a slight increase in the overall number of opioid analgesic prescriptions, an epidemic spread of opioid analgesics cannot be observed.
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spelling pubmed-76050542020-11-17 Trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in Northern Germany Verthein, Uwe Buth, Sven Daubmann, Anne Martens, Marcus-Sebastien Schulte, Bernd J Psychopharmacol Original Papers INTRODUCTION: Due to their euphoric and sedative effects, opioid analgesics have high potential for abuse and dependence. In the last decade in the USA and many Western European Countries the prescription rates of opioid analgesics have steadily increased. OBJECTIVE: This study describes 5-year trends in the prescription of opioid analgesics and risk indicators such as duration, dose and ‘doctor shopping’ in Northern Germany. METHODS: The annual rates of opioid analgesic prescriptions have been analysed for patients with statutory health insurance processed by the North German Pharmacy Data Center for the years 2011–2015. A distinction was made between non-cancer patients and cancer patients, and different groups according to prescription duration and dose level. RESULTS: Between 2011 and 2015, the annual number of patients with opioid analgesic prescriptions increased from 500,000 to 550,000. About half of non-cancer-patients (85% of the total sample) and cancer patients received opioid analgesics for 90 days or less. The rates for long-term prescriptions (⩾9 months) ranged between 6–7% for non-cancer patients and 7–8% for cancer patients. Between 1.2–1.8% received opioid analgesics in doses of more than two defined daily doses. The majority of non-cancer patients with opioid analgesic prescriptions were female. The average age of non-cancer patients was 66 years. About 80% of non-cancer patients with first opioid analgesic prescription received World Health Organization step II medication. CONCLUSION: For the first time, this study provides comprehensive patient-related analyses of opioid analgesic prescriptions in Germany over a 5-year period. Despite a slight increase in the overall number of opioid analgesic prescriptions, an epidemic spread of opioid analgesics cannot be observed. SAGE Publications 2020-07-17 2020-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7605054/ /pubmed/32674662 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881120936544 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Original Papers
Verthein, Uwe
Buth, Sven
Daubmann, Anne
Martens, Marcus-Sebastien
Schulte, Bernd
Trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in Northern Germany
title Trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in Northern Germany
title_full Trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in Northern Germany
title_fullStr Trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in Northern Germany
title_full_unstemmed Trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in Northern Germany
title_short Trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in Northern Germany
title_sort trends in risky prescriptions of opioid analgesics from 2011 to 2015 in northern germany
topic Original Papers
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7605054/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32674662
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881120936544
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