ArticleBMJ open2024
Opioid prescribing in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national register-based study.
Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Patterns of Analgesic Prescribing and High-Risk Prescribing in Primary Care in Ireland 2014-2022-A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2025Article
- Fluctuations in dispensed out-patient psychotropic medication prescriptions during the COVID-19 pandemic in The Netherlands.BJPsych open · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures disrupted global healthcare provision, including opioid prescribing. In North America, opioid sales declined while opioid-related deaths increased. In Europe, the effect of the pandemic on prescribing is not yet known. Given the ongoing increase in opioid-related harm and mortality, it is crucial to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and lockdown measures on opioid prescribing. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterise opioid prescribing in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic.
designA nationwide register-based study characterising opioid prescribing using aggregated insurance reimbursement data.
settingDutch healthcare during the first 2 years of the COVID lockdown.
participantsThe whole Dutch population. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Comparing the number of opioid prescriptions during the pandemic with a prepandemic period using a risk ratio (RR), with separate analysis on the prescription type (first-time or repeat prescription), patients' sex, age and socioeconomic status. We also explored lockdown effects.
resultsDuring the first lockdown, the total number of new opioid prescriptions and prescriptions to young patients (briefly) decreased (RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.89 and RR 0.73, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.75, respectively), but the overall number of opioid prescriptions remained stable throughout the pandemic compared with prepandemic. Women, older patients and patients living in lower socioeconomic areas received more opioids per capita, but the pandemic did not amplify these differences.
conclusionsThe pandemic appears to have had a limited impact on opioid prescribing in the Netherlands. Yet, chronic use of opioids remains an important public health issue.
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