title: Cancer patients' share in a population's use of opioids. A linkage study between a prescription database and the Danish Cancer Registry.
abstract: The aim of this study was to 1) assess cancer patients' share in a population's use of opioids and how much it influences the total use, and 2) analyze trends in the population's use of "weak" and "strong" opioids during a five-year period. Person-identifiable data on opioid prescriptions and cancer diagnoses from a Danish county (n approximately 470,000) were retrieved from a prescription database, OPED, and The Danish Cancer Registry from 1993-1997 (identifying 23,843 cancer patients). In a given year, 14% of the population's opioid users were cancer patients, and they received 23% of the total opioid consumption. Over time, the number of patients using weak opioids increased and the number using strong opioids decreased among both cancer patients and non-cancer patients. Cancer patients' consumption of strong opioids increased dramatically in 1996-1997, almost accounting for the entire increase in the whole population's consumption of strong opioids.
authors.affiliation: The Research Unit of General Practice, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark-Odense, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lene
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jarlbaek
authors.forename: Morten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kragstrup
authors.forename: Jesper
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hallas
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D019992:Databases as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009294:Narcotics; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics