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- Title
Increase in Opiate Prescription in Germany Between 2000 and 2010.
- Authors
Schubert, Ingrid; Ihle, Peter; Sabatowski, Rainer
- Abstract
Background: Insufficient data have been available to date on the prevalence of opioid treatment in Germany, physicians' prescribing habits, and the percent - ages of cancer patients and non-cancer patients among those receiving opioids for an evaluation of the quality of care and an assessment of possible underuse or misuse. Methods: The data analyzed in this study were derived from the statutory health insurance sample of the AOK health insurance company in the German state of Hesse / ASHIP Hesse for the years 2000-2010. For the purpose of this study, prevalence was defined as the percentage of insurees who received at least one outpatient prescription of an opioid (ATC N02A, excluding codeine, levomethadone and methadone). In order to control for population aging, the prevalence was standardized to the German population on December 31st of the preceding year and to the age-structure of the population as it was in 1999. Opioid prescribing for cancer was assumed when a cancer diagnosis was documented in the same year in which the opioid prescription was issued. Results: The percentage of insurees receiving at least one opioid prescription rose over the period of the study from 3.31% in 2000 to 4.53% in 2010, a relative gain of 37%. Opioids were mostly prescribed to patients with noncancer pain (2010: about 77% of opioid recipients). The percentage of noncancer patients receiving long-term opioid treatment has also increased over the period of the study. Conclusion: As opioids are frequently prescribed for non-cancer pain, it cannot be inferred from the observed increase in opioid prescribing that cancer patients are now receiving better opioid treatment than they were before. Further issues of concern are the observed increases in the prescribing of potent immediate release opioids and in the long-term opioid treatment for non-cancer patients, the benefit of which is currently debated.
- Subjects
GERMANY; THERAPEUTIC use of narcotics; ANALGESICS; CANCER pain; DRUG prescribing; OUTPATIENT services in hospitals; HEALTH insurance; LONG-term health care; NARCOTICS; PHYSICIAN practice patterns; DISEASE prevalence
- Publication
Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 2013, Vol 110, Issue 4, p45
- ISSN
1866-0452
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3238/arztebl.2013.0045