Dental News - Study finds decrease in opioid prescriptions in under 18-year-olds

Dental Tribune International

Fri. 7. December 2018

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NEW YORK, U.S.: The over-prescription of opioids in the United States is a subject that has been addressed significantly in recent years. An issue that is relevant in both dentistry and medicine, the aftereffects of over-prescribing opioids is still in the process of being clarified. However, recent findings could indicate positive change, since scientists from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have observed a downward shift in opioid prescriptions in children and adolescents.

While the opioid crisis still remains a major health concern for patients of all ages, there has been little research into their prescribing trends for younger populations.

“Prior studies have shown that—between 1997 and 2012—the rate of hospitalizations due to opioid poisonings nearly doubled in U.S. children and adolescents. Understanding patterns of opioid use in children and adolescents is important, because use in early life has been associated with a higher likelihood of opioid misuse in the future,” said lead author Dr. Joshua Gagne from the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at the hospital.

Data for the study was obtained from an extensive commercial insurance database where the rates of opioid prescriptions between 2004 and 2017 for outpatients and long-term opioid use (three or more consecutive months) was evaluated in individuals aged 18 years or younger. The database included diverse populations from all 50 U.S. states, with approximately 2.5 million individuals in the age range for each year. The analysis included all oral opioids that could be used for pain, excluding cough suppressants.

Calculating the monthly prevalence of opioid prescriptions per 1,000 individuals for each year, the results showed that in 2004, an average of three in every 1,000 children and adolescents received an outpatient opioid prescription in a given month. Between 2009 and 2012, this number increased to four in every 1,000 before dropping to two per 1,000 children and adolescents in 2017.

According to the researchers, this downward trend was driven by a decrease in prescriptions of hydrocodone bitartrate, one of the most commonly dispensed opioids to children and adolescents. The dispensation of oxycodone remained stable over time and did not increase after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved an extended-release version for children in 2015.

The study, titled “Trends in opioid prescription in children and adolescents in a commercially insured population in the United States, 2004–2017”, was published on November 12 in JAMA Pediatrics.

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