Korean J Fam Pract.  2021 Apr;11(2):142-146. 10.21215/kjfp.2021.11.2.142.

Recent Trends in Opioid Prescription in Cancer Patients in Korea

• Yoon J
• Kim HS
• Lee JW
• Kim J
• Kang HT

• KMID: 2515053
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2021.11.2.142

Abstract

Background
This study aimed to estimate the trends in opioid prescriptions for pain control in patients with and without cancer between 2002 and 2015.
Methods
This retrospective study was based on data from the 2002 and 2015 Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Health Screening Cohort Study. Prescriptions of commonly used opioids, including morphine, oxycodone, fentanyl, and hydromorphone, were included in this study. A joinpoint regression analysis was adopted to analyze significant changes in the trends of annual opioid prescriptions, specifically considering the annual percentage change (APC) and average APC (AAPC).
Results
The proportion of cancer patients to the total number of opioid prescriptions increased significantly, from 0.18/10,000 registrants in 2002 to 62.27/10,000 registrants, increasing with an AAPC of 62.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 44.7–82.1, P<0.05) during this study. The annual prescription rate also increased by 49.9% (95% CI, 22.6–83.2, P<0.05) in the non-cancer groups over the study period. In particular, there was a dramatic increase in prescriptions from 2006 to 2009, with an APC of 230.2% (95% CI, 27.0–758.6; P<0.05).
Conclusion
Opioid prescriptions substantially increased, regardless of the cancer diagnosis, over the study period. This may imply that awareness of active pain control has improved in Korea.

Keyword

Analgesics; opioid; Epidemiology; Pain; Neoplasms