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A comparison of opioid prescription trends in England and the United States from 2008 to 2020

Moncrieff, Thurstan; Moncrieff, Joanna; (2023) A comparison of opioid prescription trends in England and the United States from 2008 to 2020. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine , 34 (3) pp. 287-291. 10.3233/JRS-220040. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The prescription opioid epidemic in the United States (US) is well documented, and recent measures have reduced prescribing rates in that country. Evidence suggests opioid prescriptions have been rising recently in other countries too. OBJECTIVE: The current paper aimed to compare trends in opioid prescribing in England and the US. METHODS: Trends in rates of prescriptions per 100 members of the population were calculated for England and the US using publicly available government data on prescriptions and population statistics. RESULTS: Rates of prescribing are converging. At the peak of the US epidemic in 2012, there were 81.3 prescriptions per 100 people, but this had fallen to 43.3 by 2020. Prescribing peaked in England in 2016 at 43.2 prescriptions per 100 people, but has fallen only slightly, so that in 2020 there were 40.9 prescriptions per 100 people. CONCLUSION: The data indicate that levels of opioid prescribing in England are now similar to those in the US. They remain high in both countries, despite recent falls. This suggests the need for further measures to prevent over-prescribing and to support people who would benefit from withdrawing from these drugs.

Type: Article
Title: A comparison of opioid prescription trends in England and the United States from 2008 to 2020
Location: Netherlands
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3233/JRS-220040
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/JRS-220040
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: opioid dependence, opioid epidemic, opioid prescriptions, Opioids, prescribing trends
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry > Epidemiology and Applied Clinical Research
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10176868
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