The decline in the number of prescriptions provided is more marked among emergency physicians (-71%), general practitioners (-40%) and pain specialists (-15%).
- Highly addictive, painkillers known as opioids can cause death by overdose.
- It is estimated that 100,000 Americans die every year in this kind of circumstance.
Good news on the opioid crisis front. According to a new studytheir prescription has, for the first time since the 90s, finally dropped in the United States.
Contrasting figures
More specifically, the volume of opioids dispensed by pharmacies decreased by 21% between 2008 and 2018. Regarding prescribing physicians, the drop in the number of prescriptions provided is more marked among emergency physicians (-71%), general practitioners ( -40%) and pain specialists (-15%).
The amount of opioids consumed per capita has decreased the most in metropolises and in counties where the overdose rate is highest (- 35%). Nevertheless, some territories are still seeing their number of painkiller consumers increase.
“Our results do not indicate the proportion of unnecessary opioid prescriptions that were discontinued,” says Dr. Bradley D. Stein, author of the research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. “But this work demonstrates that changes in opioid prescribing are much more nuanced than we previously thought.”
Towards more targeted policies?
He continues and concludes: “Clinicians’ and policymakers’ efforts to reduce opioid prescribing have affected populations differently. Future measures to improve pain relief delivery may need to be more varied and targeted.”
In France, more than 200 people die each year from an opioid overdose, a rising trend. According to the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), between 2000 and 2017, our country went from 15 to 40 hospitalizations for opioid overdose per million inhabitants, and the number of deaths for overdose more than doubled over the same period.
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