Analgesic prescribing in patients with inflammatory arthritis in England: an observational study using electronic healthcare record data.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

International data suggest inflammatory arthritis (IA) pain management frequently involves opioid prescribing, despite little evidence of efficacy, and potential harms. We evaluated analgesic prescribing in English National Health Service-managed patients with IA.

Methods

Repeated cross-sectional analyses in the Consultations in Primary Care Archive (primary care consultation and prescription data in nine general practices from 2000 to 2015) evaluated the annual prevalence of analgesic prescriptions in: (i) IA cases (RA, PsA or axial spondyloarthritis [SpA]), and (ii) up to five age-, sex- and practice-matched controls. Analgesic prescriptions were classified into basic, opioids, gabapentinoids and oral NSAIDs, and sub-classified into chronic and intermittent (≥3

SUBMITTER: Scott IC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9348777 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature