TY - JOUR
T1 - Cancer patients' share in a population's use of opioids. A linkage study between a prescription database and the Danish Cancer Registry
AU - Jarlbaek, Lene
AU - Andersen, Morten
AU - Kragstrup, Jakob
AU - Hallas, Jesper
PY - 2004/1
Y1 - 2004/1
N2 - The aim of this study was to 1) assess cancer patients' share in a population's use of opioids and how much it influences the total use, and 2) analyze trends in the population's use of "weak" and "strong" opioids during a five-year period. Person-identifiable data on opioid prescriptions and cancer diagnoses from a Danish county (n approximately 470,000) were retrieved from a prescription database, OPED, and The Danish Cancer Registry from 1993-1997 (identifying 23,843 cancer patients). In a given year, 14% of the population's opioid users were cancer patients, and they received 23% of the total opioid consumption. Over time, the number of patients using weak opioids increased and the number using strong opioids decreased among both cancer patients and non-cancer patients. Cancer patients' consumption of strong opioids increased dramatically in 1996-1997, almost accounting for the entire increase in the whole population's consumption of strong opioids.
AB - The aim of this study was to 1) assess cancer patients' share in a population's use of opioids and how much it influences the total use, and 2) analyze trends in the population's use of "weak" and "strong" opioids during a five-year period. Person-identifiable data on opioid prescriptions and cancer diagnoses from a Danish county (n approximately 470,000) were retrieved from a prescription database, OPED, and The Danish Cancer Registry from 1993-1997 (identifying 23,843 cancer patients). In a given year, 14% of the population's opioid users were cancer patients, and they received 23% of the total opioid consumption. Over time, the number of patients using weak opioids increased and the number using strong opioids decreased among both cancer patients and non-cancer patients. Cancer patients' consumption of strong opioids increased dramatically in 1996-1997, almost accounting for the entire increase in the whole population's consumption of strong opioids.
KW - Data Collection
KW - Databases as Topic/statistics & numerical data
KW - Denmark/epidemiology
KW - Drug Prescriptions/statistics & numerical data
KW - Drug Utilization/statistics & numerical data
KW - Humans
KW - Narcotics
KW - Neoplasms/epidemiology
KW - Registries/statistics & numerical data
U2 - 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2003.05.002
DO - 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2003.05.002
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 14711467
VL - 27
SP - 36
EP - 43
JO - Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
JF - Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
SN - 0885-3924
IS - 1
ER -