Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26991673›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2016

Twenty-five years of prescription opioid use in Australia: a whole-of-population analysis using pharmaceutical claims.

Emily A Karanges, Bianca Blanch, Nicholas A Buckley, Sallie-Anne Pearson

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
59citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
22.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

59 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 181 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Emily A KarangesMedicines Policy Research Unit, Centre for Big Data Research in Health, University of New South Wales, Australia, 2052.
Bianca BlanchFaculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney, Australia, 2006.
Nicholas A BuckleyDiscipline of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney, Australia, 2006.
Sallie-Anne PearsonMedicines Policy Research Unit, Centre for Big Data Research in Health, University of New South Wales, Australia, 2052.
University of Sydney · AUUNSW Sydney · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimThe aim of this paper is to investigate 25-year trends in community use of prescribed opioid analgesics in Australia, and to map these trends against major changes to opioid registration and subsidy.

methodsWe obtained dispensing data from 1990 to 2014 from two sources: dispensing claims processed under Australia's national drug subsidy programme, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, including under co-payment records from 2012; and estimates of non-subsidized medicine use from a survey of Australian pharmacies (until 2011). Utilization was expressed in defined daily doses (DDD)/1000 population/day.

resultsOpioid dispensing increased almost four-fold between 1990 and 2014, from 4.6 to 17.4 DDD/1000 pop/day. In 1990, weak, short-acting or orally administered opioids accounted for over 90% of utilization. Use of long-acting opioids increased over 17-fold between 1990 and 2000, due primarily to the subsidy of long-acting morphine and increased use of methadone for pain management. Between 2000 and 2011, oxycodone, fentanyl, buprenorphine, tramadol and hydromorphone use increased markedly. Use of strong opioids, long-acting and transdermal preparations also increased, largely following the subsidy of various opioids for noncancer pain. In 2011, the most dispensed opioids were codeine (41.1% of total opioid use), oxycodone (19.7%) and tramadol (16.1%); long-acting formulations comprised approximately half, and strong opioids 40%, of opioid dispensing.

conclusionsOpioid utilization in Australia is increasing, although these figures remain below levels reported in the US and Canada. The increased use of opioids was largely driven by the subsidy of long-acting formulations and opioids for the treatment of noncancer pain.

Indexed as

Administration, CutaneousAdministration, OralAnalgesics, OpioidAustraliaDatabases, FactualDelayed-Action PreparationsHumansPainPractice Patterns, Physicians'Analgesics, OpioidDelayed-Action PreparationsanalgesicsAustraliadispensingopioidspharmacoepidemiology

Identifiers

PMID26991673
PMCPMC4917790
OpenAlexW2300421333

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.