COVID‐19 restrictions and the incidence and prevalence of prescription opioid use in Australia – a nationwide study

The COVID‐19 pandemic has disrupted seeking and delivery of healthcare. Different Australian jurisdictions implemented different COVID‐19 restrictions. We used Australian national pharmacy dispensing data to conduct interrupted time series analyses to examine the incidence and prevalence of opioid dispensing in different jurisdictions. Following nationwide COVID‐19 restrictions, the incidence dropped by −0.40 (95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.50, −0.31), −0.33 (95% CI: −0.46, −0.21) and −0.21 (95% CI: −0.37, −0.04) per 1000 people per week and the prevalence dropped by −0.85 (95% CI: −1.39, −0.31), −0.54 (95% CI: −1.01, −0.07) and −0.62 (95% CI: −0.99, −0.25) per 1000 people per week in Victoria, New South Wales and other jurisdictions, respectively. Incidence and prevalence increased by 0.29 (95% CI: 0.13, 0.44) and 0.72 (95% CI: 0.11, 1.33) per 1000 people per week, respectively in Victoria post‐lockdown; no significant changes were observed in other jurisdictions. No significant changes were observed in the initiation of long‐term opioid use in any jurisdictions. More stringent restrictions coincided with more pronounced reductions in overall opioid initiation, but initiation of long‐term opioid use did not change.