A study shows the link between the prescription of opioids after an operation and the risk of dependence. The longer the drugs are prescribed, the greater the risk of misuse. A phenomenon that worries the health authorities.
Tom Petty, rocker star of the United States died last October of an overdose of painkillers. The artist was taking opioid drugs to relieve pain related to a broken hip. He was using a product called Fentanyl, which was much more potent than morphine. This drug relieves pain but also causes a feeling of well-being, which makes it potentially very addicting both psychologically and physically. Recently, researchers have shown that opioid addiction is related to the length of time you have a prescription after surgery. The results were published this week in the British Medical Journal.
40% more risk for a new prescription
According to the researchers, between 3 and 10% of patients who have never taken opioids become chronic users of these drugs. The study was carried out on over a million patients who had surgery and were taking no or few opioids. For 56% of those operated on, an opioid was prescribed after the operation. Abuse of this treatment was observed in 0.6% of patients, which represents 183 people out of 100,000 each year. The risk of dependence increases as the prescription length increases. A single new prescription increases the risk of drug abuse by more than 40%.
Each week of prescription added, causes an increase in the risk of misuse of the treatment of 44%. In addition, researchers have shown that duration has more influence on the risk of addiction than dosage.
A use that worries the health authorities
In France, the health authorities are worried about the number of overdoses linked to the consumption of this type of medication. They have sharply increased over the past fifteen years: 128% more hospitalizations are linked to this phenomenon between 2000 and 2015, according to the French Observatory for Analgesic Drugs. After the death of two adolescents by overdose, the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn had withdrawn from the free sale two drugs which contain codeine.
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