TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2004//
TI  - Seeking drugs or seeking help? Escalating "doctor shopping" by young heroin users before fatal overdose
JO  - Medical journal of Australia
A1  - Martyres, Raymond F.
A1  - Clode, Danielle
A1  - Burns, Jane M.
SP  - 211
EP  - 214
VL  - 180
IS  - 5
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To identify prescription drug-seeking behaviour patterns among young people who subsequently died of heroin-related overdose. DESIGN: Linkage of Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Coroner's Court records from Victoria. SUBJECTS: Two hundred and two 15-24-year-olds who died of heroin-related overdose between 6 January 1994 and 6 October 1999. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patterns of use of medical services and prescription drugs listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in the years before death, and use of all drugs just before death. RESULTS: Polydrug use was reported in 90% of toxicology reports, and prescription drugs were present in 80% of subjects. Subjects accessed medical services six times more frequently than the general population aged 14-24 years, and more than half of all prescribed drugs were those prone to misuse, such as benzodiazepines and opioid analgesics. A pattern of increasing drug-seeking behaviour in the years before death was identified, with doctor-visitation rates, number of different doctors seen and rates of prescriptions peaking in the year before death. CONCLUSIONS: An apparent increase in "doctor shopping" in the years before heroin-related death may reflect the increasing misuse of prescription drugs, but also an increasing need for help. Identification of a pattern of escalating doctor shopping could be an opportunity for intervention, and potentially, reduction in mortality.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0025-729X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -