Prescription of analgesics in patients with rheumatic diseases in Germany: A claims data analysis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prescription frequency of analgesics in persons diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), axial spondylarthritis (axSpA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in 2019 using claims data. METHODS: Persons ≥ 18 years insured in 2019 with a diagnosis of RA (M05, M06), axSpA (M45), PsA (M07.0-3) or SLE (M32.1,8,9) were included. Analgesics were identified by the anatomic therapeutic classification (ATC) system. Reported is the percentage of individuals with ≥ 1 analgesics prescription for the respective rheumatic diagnosis in 2019 and for opioids age-standardized in each of the years 2005–2019. In addition, the proportion of long-term opioid use (prescriptions in ≥ 3 consecutive quarter years) in 2006 and 2019 is compared. RESULTS: Metamizole (29–33%) was the most commonly prescribed analgesic. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID)/coxibs were prescribed from 35% (SLE) to 50% (axSpA). Of the patients 11–13% were prescribed weak and 6–8% strong opioids. From 2005 to 2019, the proportion of persons with an opioid prescription remained stable, with similar or slightly decreasing proportions of weak opioids and more frequent prescriptions of strong opioids. The proportion of long-term opioid prescriptions increased from 2006 to 2019 from 8.9% to 11.0% (RA), from 6.9% to 9.1% (axSPA), from 7.8% to 9.5% (PsA), and from 7.5% to 8.8% (SLE), corresponding to a 17–24% increase. CONCLUSION: The prescription of opioids for persons with inflammatory rheumatic diagnoses is not as high in Germany as in other countries; however, the proportion of long-term prescriptions has considerably increased. The frequent prescription of metamizole is conspicuous.