ArticleEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology2008
Trends in the consumption of opioid analgesics in Spain. Higher increases as fentanyl replaces morphine.
Article in European journal of clinical pharmacology, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 93 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trends in Fentanyl Dispensing in Spain: The Case of Galicia (2019-2025).Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Changes in the consumption of immediate-release fentanyl between 2018 and 2022 in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife after the implementation of regulatory measures by health authorities.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Opioid analgesic use during pregnancy: a drug utilization cohort study in Catalonia.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Correlation Between Opioid Drug Prescription and Opioid-Related Mortality in Spain as a Surveillance Tool: Ecological Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2023Article
- Opioid prescription patterns in the province of Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain (2016-2020): differences between urban and rural areas.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Article
- Opioid use trends in Spain: the case of the island of La Gomera (2016-2019).Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2022Article
- Real-world patterns of opioid therapy initiation in Spain, 2012-2018: A population-based, retrospective cohort study with 957,080 patients and 1,509,488 initiations.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Population-Based Study on the All-Cause and Cause-Specific Risks of Mortality among Long-Term Opioid Analgesics Users without Cancer in Taiwan.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- The impact of high-dose opioid prescription on mortality rates among people living with HIV: A retrospective cohort study.The International journal on drug policy · 2020Article
- The Contemporary American Drug Overdose Epidemic in International Perspective.Population and development review · 2019Article
- Trends in analgesic consumption in France over the last 10 years and comparison of patterns across Europe.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2018Article
- An Advance in Prescription Opioid Vaccines: Overdose Mortality Reduction and Extraordinary Alteration of Drug Half-Life.ACS chemical biology · 2017Article
- Analgesic Medicine Utilization in Older People in New Zealand from 2005 to 2013.Drugs - real world outcomes · 2015Article
- The POPPY Research Programme protocol: investigating opioid utilisation, costs and patterns of extramedical use in Australia.BMJ open · 2015Article
- An overview of the patterns of prescription opioid use, costs and related harms in Australia.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2014Review
- Thermal sensitivity across ages and during chronic fentanyl administration in rats.Psychopharmacology · 2014Article
- What analgesics do older people use prior to initiating oxycodone for non-cancer pain? A retrospective database study.Drugs & aging · 2013Article
- The use of very-low-dose methadone for palliative pain control and the prevention of opioid hyperalgesia.Journal of palliative medicine · 2013Article
- Using a morphine equivalence metric to quantify opioid consumption: examining the capacity to provide effective treatment of debilitating pain at the global, regional, and country levels.Journal of pain and symptom management · 2013Article
- Increase in opiate prescription in Germany between 2000 and 2010: a study based on insurance data.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveDuring the past few years there have been changes in the availability of opioids in Spain, and new policies on palliative care have been implemented. The aim of this study was to describe the new pattern of opioid consumption in Spain and the associated economic impact.
methodsA search in the ECOM (Especialidades Consumo de Medicamentos) database of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs for the 1992-2006 period was carried out. This database contains information on prescriptions of primary care medicines that are covered by the National Health System in Spain.
resultsSince 1992, overall opioid consumption has increased 14-fold, from 0.3 DDD/1000 inhabitants per day to 4.4 DDD/1000 inhabitants per day. For the six drugs that require a special prescription form--morphine, methadone, oxycodone pethidine, tilidine and fentanyl--consumption increased from 0.1 DDD/1000 inhabitants per day in 1992 to 1.2 in 2006. During this same period, the total costs of these prescriptions increased by 36.8-fold, and the cost per day and per patient doubled.
conclusionA huge increase in opioid consumption has occurred during the time period covered by this study, with fentanyl consumption accounting for most of that increase. Although oral morphine is the first-choice drug among strong opioids, fentanyl is currently the most consumed.
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