ArticleJournal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA2022
Prevalence of opioid prescriptions in Taiwan (2008-2018).
Article in Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Analgesic Prescribing Trends of Opioids, Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, and Paracetamol in Taiwan (2001-2020): Age-Period-Cohort Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- Knowledge, attitudes and practices of pain management among Taiwanese physicians in a reformed 2-year postgraduate training programme: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Potentially Inappropriate Use of Transdermal Fentanyl in Working-Age and Older Adult Populations with Non-Cancer Pain: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- Assessment of opioid knowledge and attitudes among senior medical students in Taiwan's pain education curriculum: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Treatment pattern and health care resource utilization for Taiwanese patients with migraine: a population-based study.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOpioids are effective for severe pain; however, the safety issue is also a primary concern. To better understand the opioid use in Taiwan, we conducted this study.
methodsData on patients with opioid prescriptions, including morphine, fentanyl, pethidine, codeine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, and buprenorphine were collected using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database (NHID).
resultsOur analysis of opioid prescriptions from 2008 to 2018 in Taiwan indicated that (1) A slow increase in prevalence of opioid prescription was found during the study period. Among the drugs studied, morphine accounted for the majority of the prescriptions written, with a gradual increase annually. Pethidine prescriptions showed a significant and rapid decline over the years; (2) medical centers prescribed the largest number of opioids, followed by regional hospitals, local hospitals, and clinics; (3) the number of prescriptions per year per capita in cancer group was much higher than that in noncancer group. In noncancer group, most of the prescriptions were used in acute pain service (98.7%); and (4) use of opioids increased with age in both cancer and noncancer patients.
conclusionThe total number of opioid prescriptions in Taiwan gradually increased annually, among which morphine was the most commonly used opioid. Cancer patients consumed more opioid prescriptions than noncancer patients and most of the prescriptions in noncancer patients were used in acute pain service. The number of prescriptions increased with the age of the patients in both cancer and noncancer patients. The low prescription rate of opioids in chronic pain in Taiwan is not similar as those in high opioid-consuming countries, such as United States.
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