Non-medical use of pharmaceutical opioids with and without other illicit substance use: Trends from two repeated nationally representative Australian surveys.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Due to concerns over the public health impact of increasing opioid use, Australia up-scheduled codeine in 2018, requiring codeine-containing pharmaceuticals to be prescription-only. We examined pre-post changes in the prevalence and correlates of non-medical use of pharmaceutical opioids (NMUPO) and other illicit substance use (ISU).

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 45,463 participants aged 14 or above in the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Surveys (NDSHS) 2016 and 2019. Participants were categorized based on their past 12 months NMUPO and ISU patterns. Correlates examined included socio-demographic, psychological (Kessler 10), health and behavioral variables.

Results

The overall prevalence of any NMUPO decreased from 3.56% in

SUBMITTER: Leung J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9948896 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature