Characteristics and summary statistics of opioid users with incident hospitalisations/emergency department visits using data from 2016 to 2018
| Characteristic | Total no (%) of patients*n=1 056 773† | No (%) of concurrent users*n=179 805‡ | No (%) of non-concurrent opioid users*n=876 968§ |
| Opioid users | 1 056 773 (100) | 179 805 (100) | 876 968 (100) |
| No of dispensations for opioids | 11 240 195(-) | 5 855 666 (-) | 5 384 529 (-) |
| No of dispensations for BZDs | 6 050 709(-) | 4 767 945 (-) | 1 282 764 (-)¶ |
| Sex | |||
| Female | 581 457 (55) | 109 128 (60.7) | 472 411 (53.9) |
| Male | 475 316 (45) | 70 677 (39.3) | 404 557 (46.1) |
| Age at admission, year, median (IQR) | 49 (34–62) | 56 (43–67) | 47 (32–61) |
| Mean (SD) | 48.7 (18.1) | 55.2 (17.0) | 47.4 (18.1) |
| 10–20 | 48 721 (4.6) | 2276 (1.3) | 46 445 (5.3) |
| 21–40 | 339 380 (32.1) | 36 192 (20.1) | 303 188 (34.5) |
| 41–65 | 464 720 (44.0) | 90 626 (50.4) | 374 094 (42.7) |
| >65 | 203 909 (19.3) | 50 708 (28.2) | 153 201 (17.5) |
| No of unique prescribers visited, median (IQR) | 2 (1–3) | 4 (2–6) | 1 (1–2) |
| Mean (SD) | 2.3 (2.2) | 4.5 (3.4) | 1.9 (1.4) |
| 1 | 508 745 (48.1) | 19 252 (10.7) | 489 493 (55.8) |
| 2 | 246 935 (23.4) | 33 594 (18.7) | 213 341 (24.3) |
| 3 | 124 773 (11.8) | 33 473 (18.6) | 91 300 (10.4) |
| 4 | 66 825 (6.3) | 26 573 (14.8) | 40 252 (4.6) |
| >5 | 109 495 (10.4) | 66 913 (37.2) | 42 582 (4.9) |
| No of unique pharmacies visited, median (IQR) | 2 (1–3) | 3 (2–5) | 2 (1–2) |
| Mean (SD) | 2.37 (2.18) | 4.1 (3.8) | 2.02 (1.45) |
| 1 | 431 651 (40.8) | 29 486 (16.4) | 402 165 (45.8) |
| 2 | 301 730 (28.5) | 41 064 (22.8) | 260 666 (29.7) |
| 3 | 151 297 (14.3) | 33 578 (18.8) | 117 710 (13.4) |
| 4 | 73 698 (7.0) | 23 356 (13.0) | 50 342 (5.7) |
| >5 | 98 406 (9.3) | 52 321 (29.1) | 46 085 (5.3) |
| Total no of opioid prescriptions dispensed, median (IQR) | 2 (1–4) | 8 (2–29) | 1 (1–3) |
| Mean (SD) | 9.8 (51.4) | 32.6 (101.5) | 5.2 (30.9) |
| 1–10 | 919 059 (87.0) | 100 809 (56.0) | 818 250 (93.3) |
| 11–20 | 48 371 (4.6) | 22 796 (12.7) | 25 575 (2.9) |
| 20–30 | 23 706 (2.2) | 13 163 (7.3) | 10 543 (1.2) |
| >31 | 65 637 (6.2) | 43 037 (23.9) | 22 600 (2.6) |
| Total cumulative days of opioid use, median (IQR) | 11 (5–39) | 104 (21–522) | 9 (5–23) |
| Mean (SD) | 94.5 (224) | 297.9 (358.0) | 52.8 (154.7) |
| 1–30 | 744 607 (70.5) | 54 670 (30.4) | 689 937 (78.7) |
| 31–60 | 94 659 (9.0) | 20 406 (11.4) | 74 253 (8.5) |
| 61–90 | 35 536 (3.4) | 10 934 (6.1) | 24 602 (2.8) |
| >90 | 181 971 (17.2) | 93 795 (52.2) | 88 176 (10.1) |
| No of people that received a dispensation for specified opioid molecule and daily OME** | |||
| Buprenorphine/naloxone | 7995 (0.76) | 3005 (1.7) | 7451 (0.85) |
| Methadone | 7394 (0.70) | 3218 (1.8) | 7043 (0.80) |
| Buprenorphine (transdermal patch) | 8238 (0.78) | 3447 (1.9) | 7158 (0.82) |
| Codeine | 738 601 (69.9) | 120 514 (67.0) | 701 243 (80.0) |
| Morphine | 29 796 (2.8) | 12 069 (6.7) | 25 828 (3.0) |
| Oxycodone | 119 289 (11.3) | 37 692 (21.0) | 108 036 (12.3) |
| Oxycodone/naloxone | 1163 (0.11) | 485 (0.27) | 1007 (0.12) |
| Hydromorphone | 70 181 (6.6) | 22 376 (12.4) | 62 205 (7.1) |
| Fentanyl | 8888 (0.84) | 6279 (3.5) | 8067 (0.92) |
| Tramadol | 316 662 (30.0) | 50 891 (28.3) | 292 965 (33.4) |
| Tapentadol | 1570 (0.15) | 696 (0.39) | 1387 (0.16) |
| 50 OME†† | 854 759 (86.3) | 154 742 (90.3) | 812 574 (99.2) |
| 50–90 OME†† | 166 392 (16.8) | 48 642 (28.4) | 144 629 (17.7) |
| >90 OME†† | 101 837 (10.3) | 40 265 (23.5) | 86 620 (10.6) |
| Total days of cumulative concurrency among concurrent users | |||
| 1–30 | N/A | 92 757 (51.6) | N/A |
| 31–60 | 17 327 (9.6) | ||
| 61–90 | 9006 (5.0) | ||
| 91–180 | 14 713 (8.2) | ||
| 181–270 | 8468 (4.7) | ||
| 271–360 | 6270 (3.5) | ||
| >361 | 31 264 (17.4) | ||
| Elixhauser score‡‡ | |||
| Mean (SD) | 2.86 (2.45) | 4.36 (2.8) | 2.56 (2.25) |
| Median (IQR) | 2 (1–4) | 4 (2–6) | 2 (1–4) |
All pairwise comparisons between concurrent and opioid only users had p<0.001.
*Unless otherwise indicated.
†n=990 098 for OME analyses.
‡n=171 457 for OME analyses.
§n=818 641 for OME analyses.
¶If patients had BZD use outside of the study windows, then this was captured in our summary statistics.
**Defined as having at least 1 day at specified dose or molecule.
††OME=oral morphine equivalents, buprenorphine and methadone dropped from OME analysis.
‡‡Determined using data from 2012 to 2016.
BZD, benzodiazepines/Z-drug; N/A, not available; OME, oral morphine equivalent.