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Affiliation
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Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmaceutical Policy Research Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney, Australia, 2006. |
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Abstract
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AIMS: The purpose of this paper is to report Australian population trends in subsidised prescribed opioid use. We also report the total costs to the Australian government to subsidise these medicines and opioid-related harms based on hospitalisations and accidental deaths.
METHODS: We use three national aggregated data sources including dispensing claims from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme; opioid-related hospitalisations from the National Hospital Morbidity Data and accidental poisoning deaths from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
RESULTS: Between 1992 and 2012, opioid dispensing increased 15-fold (500,000 to 7.5 million) and the corresponding cost to the Australian government increased 32-fold ($8.5 million to $271 million). Opioid-related harms also increased; opioid-related hospitalisations increased from 605 to 1464 cases (1998-2009), outnumbering hospitalisations due to heroin poisonings since 2001. Deaths due to accidental poisoning (pharmaceutical opioids and illicit substances combined) increased from 151 to 266 (2002-2011), resulting in a rise in the death rate of 0.78 to 1.19 deaths/100,000 population over 10 years. Death rates increased 1.8 fold in males and 1.4 fold in females.
CONCLUSIONS: The striking increase in opioid use and related harms in Australia is consistent with trends observed in other jurisdictions. Further, there is no evidence to suggest these increases are plateauing. There is currently limited evidence in Australia about individual patterns of opioid use and the associated risk of adverse events. Further research should focus on these important issues so as to provide important evidence supporting effective change in policy and practice.
Language: en |