Opioid prescribing patterns among medical practitioners in New South Wales, Australia.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Prescriber behaviour is important for understanding opioid use patterns. We described variations in practitioner-level opioid prescribing in New South Wales, Australia (2013-2018).

Methods

We quantified opioid prescribing patterns among medical practitioners using population-level dispensing claims data, and used partitioning around medoids to identify clusters of practitioners who prescribe opioids based on prescribing patterns and patient characteristics identified from linked dispensing claims, hospitalisations and mortality data.

Results

The number of opioid prescribers ranged from 20,179 in 2013 to 23,408 in 2018. The top 1% of practitioners prescribed 15% of all oral morphine equivalent (OME) milligrams dispensed annually, with a median of 1382 OME

SUBMITTER: Schaffer AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10946566 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature