Some opioid prescribing in NSW is 'concerning'

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-05-10 03:00

Australia; NSW

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Aussie scientists investigated patterns in opioid prescribing in NSW between 2013 and 2018. The number of doctors prescribing opioids rose from 20,179 to 23,408 during the period, they say, and 15% of all opioid prescriptions were issued by just 1% of practitioners. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of prescribers were responsible for just 1% of prescriptions. The team also looked for clusters of practitioners in terms of how many opioid 'scripts they gave out, and identified that the largest cluster was mainly prescribing opioids as painkillers to older patients. This cluster accounted for 76.7% of all prescribed opioids, and represented 93% of the top 1% of prescribers. A cluster prescribing opioids as painkillers to younger patients with high rates of surgery accounted for just 1.6% of all prescribed opioids, and comprised 18.7% of prescribers. The remaining two clusters comprised 21.2% of prescribers and accounted for 20.9% of all opioids prescribed. Although the scientists did not assess the appropriateness of the opioid prescriptions, they caution that some prescribing patterns are "concerning".