Influence of opioid prescribing standards on drug use among patients with long-term opioid use: a longitudinal cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In mid-2016, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) issued prescribing standards and guidelines relating to opioid drugs. We evaluated the impact of these regulatory standards and guidelines on prescription drug use among patients in the province with long-term opioid use.

Methods

We conducted a cohort study with monthly repeated measures using administrative health data in British Columbia. Patients with long-term prescription opioid use were followed for a 12-month prepolicy period and 10-month postpolicy period, and were compared with a historical control cohort. We excluded patients with a history of long-term care, palliative care or cancer. We estimated changes in use of opioids, high-dose opioids (> 90 mg of morphine equivalents/

SUBMITTER: Morrow RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6658212 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul-Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature