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- Title
Should we be routinely co-prescribing naloxone for patients on long term opioids?
- Authors
Prathivadi, Pallavi; Nielsen, Suzanne
- Abstract
Community members, general practitioners and pharmacists frequently perceive naloxone as a medication for people who use illicit opioids, namely heroin.7 However, opioid-related mortality in people taking pharmaceutical opioids for chronic pain is common. Keywords: Chronic pain; Emergency treatment; Community care; Pharmacy; Addiction; Analgesics; opioid; Drug overdose; Drug misuse; Opioid-related disorders; Overdose; Prescription drug misuse EN Chronic pain Emergency treatment Community care Pharmacy Addiction Analgesics opioid Drug overdose Drug misuse Opioid-related disorders Overdose Prescription drug misuse 403 403 1 05/19/21 20210515 NES 210515 Community naloxone supply to prevent fatal overdose needs to consider patients using pharmaceutical opioids Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) opioid prescriptions in Australia have increased from 2.4 million in 1992 to 7 million in 2007 to 15 million prescriptions in 2016.1 The corresponding rate of opioid mortality over this time almost doubled from 3.8 deaths per 100 000 Australians in 2007 to 6.7 in 2017,2 with fatal opioid overdoses increasing from 482 in 2002 per 100 000 Australians to 900 in 2018.3 Most of these deaths involved prescription opioids, and contrary to what many assume, only one-third of prescription opioid-related deaths involved intravenous drug use.4 Among deaths associated with common prescription opioids (including fentanyl, morphine, oxycodone, tramadol and codeine), 49% involved people with chronic pain.4 Naloxone, a rapidly acting semi-synthetic opioid antagonist, has an important role in reducing opioid overdoses by acting as an emergency reversal agent.5 It is currently available in Australia for intramuscular injection or nasal spray. Should we be routinely co-prescribing naloxone for patients on long term opioids?.
- Subjects
NALOXONE; OPIOIDS; MEDICAL personnel; PAIN clinics; DRUG overdose; CONTROLLED release preparations
- Publication
Medical Journal of Australia, 2021, Vol 214, Issue 9, p403
- ISSN
0025-729X
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.5694/mja2.51026