Opioid prescriptions and patients' health services utilization and cost before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: an exploratory population-based administrative data analysis.
Can J Physiol Pharmacol
; 101(9): 466-474, 2023 Sep 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37235884
ABSTRACT
The objective was to explore percentages of the population treated with prescribed opioids and costs of opioid-related hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits among individuals treated with prescription opioids and costs of all opioid-related hospitalizations and ED visits in the province (i.e., provincial costs) before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Alberta, Canada. In administrative data, we identified individuals treated with prescription opioids and opioid-related hospitalizations and ED visits among those individuals and among all individuals in the province between 2015/16 and 2021/22 fiscal years. Services used were counted on an item-by-item basis and costed using case-mix approaches. Annually, from 9.98% (2020/21-2021/22) to 14.52% (2017/18) of the provincial population was treated with prescription opioids. Between 2015/16 and 2021/22, annual costs of opioid-related hospitalizations and ED visits among individuals treated with prescription opioids were â¼$5 and â¼$2 million, respectively. In 2020/21-2021/22, the provincial costs of opioid-related hospitalizations (â¼$14 million) and ED visits (â¼$7.0 million) were almost twice the costs observed in 2015/16 and immediately before the pandemic (2019/20). Our findings suggest that increases in the opioid-related utilization of inpatient and ED services between 2015/16 and 2021/22, including the drastic increases observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, were likely driven by unregulated substances.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
COVID-19
/
Analgésicos Opioides
Tipo de estudio:
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Can J Physiol Pharmacol
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Canadá