Prevalence of opioid prescriptions in Taiwan (2008-2018)

Opioids are effective for severe pain; however, the safety issue is also a primary concern. To better understand the opioid use in Taiwan, we conducted this study.

Data on patients with opioid prescriptions, including morphine, fentanyl, pethidine, codeine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, and buprenorphine were collected using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database (NHID).

Our analysis of opioid prescriptions from 2008 to 2018 in Taiwan indicated that (1) A slow increase in prevalence of opioid prescription was found during the study period. Among the drugs studied, morphine accounted for the majority of the prescriptions written, with a gradual increase annually. Pethidine prescriptions showed a significant and rapid decline over the years; (2) medical centers prescribed the largest number of opioids, followed by regional hospitals, local hospitals, and clinics; (3) the number of prescriptions per year per capita in cancer group was much higher than that in noncancer group. In noncancer group, most of the prescriptions were used in acute pain service (98.7%); and (4) use of opioids increased with age in both cancer and noncancer patients.

The total number of opioid prescriptions in Taiwan gradually increased annually, among which morphine was the most commonly used opioid. Cancer patients consumed more opioid prescriptions than noncancer patients and most of the prescriptions in noncancer patients were used in acute pain service. The number of prescriptions increased with the age of the patients in both cancer and noncancer patients. The low prescription rate of opioids in chronic pain in Taiwan is not similar as those in high opioid-consuming countries, such as United States.