Income-Based Disparities in Opioid Prescription Dispensing Among Public Drug Plan Beneficiaries in Canada from 2010 to 2018: A Population-Based and Sex-Stratified Retrospective Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Previous research in Canada has examined opioids prescription dispensing at the population level but did not examine the potential relationship with area-level income and rates of opioid dispensing.

Objective

The aim was to estimate average and annual opioid dispensing rate ratios (RRs) between lowest and highest income quintile geographic areas in Canada.

Methods

We performed a population-based retrospective study using the National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System (NPDUIS) between 2010 and 2018 that contains prescription records for all public drug plan beneficiaries (65+) in all Canadian provinces, excluding Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. We used census median household income, calculated at the Forward Sortation Area (FSA-the fi

SUBMITTER: Alsabbagh MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12380661 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature