Trends in prescription opioid use in Europe: A DARWIN EU^® multinational cohort study including seven European countries.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The opioid crisis has been a serious public health challenge in North America for decades, despite numerous efforts to mitigate its devastating consequences. As concerns grow about a similar situation developing in Europe, we evaluated the trends in opioid use and characterized prescribing indications across seven European countries.

Methods

We conducted a multinational cohort study using electronic health records from various healthcare settings: primary care [Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) GOLD (United Kingdom), Sistema d'Informació per al Desenvolupament de la Investigació en Atenció Primària (SIDIAP, Spain), and Integrated Primary Care Information Project (IPCI, the Netherlands)]; primary and outpatient specialist care [IQVIA Disease Analyzer (DA)

SUBMITTER: Xie J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12399544 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature