NEWLY released data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) shows deaths involving opioids have almost doubled over the last decade, while over 10% of Australians have used illegal opioids or misused prescribed ones in their lifetime.
The report, produced in collaboration with the Canadian Institute for Health Information, is the first to provide a comprehensive national snapshot of opioid use and harm here, while also drawing comparisons to Canadian results.
In Australia in 2016-17, 3.1 million people had one or more scripts dispensed for opioids, the AIHW report indicates.
During the same year 715,000 people used pharmaceutical opioids for illicit or non-medical purposes, while around 40,000 Australians used heroin.
AIHW spokesperson Lynelle Moon said "every day in Australia there are nearly 150 hospitalisations and 14 presentations to emergency departments involving opioid harm, and three people die from drug-induced deaths involving opioid use."
Moon said in the case of both deaths and hospitalisations, pharmaceutical opioids were more likely to be responsible than illegal opioids - and in both Australia and Canada there were more hospitalisations involving side effects from intended use of pharmaceutical opioids than from misuse of illicit opioids.
In 2016-17 15.4 million opioid scripts were dispensed under the PBS, with oxycodone the most commonly dispensed prescription opioid, followed by codeine and then tramadol.
The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia said the new report added to the "building impetus for collaborative and effective nationwide action".
SHPA CEO Kristin Michaels noted that post-operative care was a key target for reducing opioid misuse, with the issue explored during the recent Medicines Leadership Forum convened by the Society.
Information relating to current practices in hospitals across Australia and recommendations around reducing gaps and variability in service delivery and patient care will be released in SHPA's Reducing Opioid-related harm: An Australian hospital landscape paper.
The full AIHW report is available online at aihw.gov.au.
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