Epidemiology of opioid pharmacy claims in the United States

Objective: To describe opioid pharmacy claims patterns in the United States among an insured population.Design: Information was obtained from the US insurance claims database, IMS Lifelink™, between 1997 and 2002. Descriptive statistics of opioid claims patterns were described with stratification by gender, age, and year of use.Results: The prevalence of insured people with opioid claims increased from 17.1 percent in 1997 to 18.4 percent in 2002. Among people with an opioid claim, 24 percent had ≥30 days and 10 percent had ≥90 days of days supplied based on the insurance claims. Prevalence varied by type of opioid; 56 percent of people with a claim received propoxyphene, 43 percent received codeine, 23 percent received oxycodone, and 17 percent received hydrocodone. Sustained-release opioids were found among 6 percent of those with a claim. With respect to the dose of opioids in the pharmacy claims (expressed as morphine equivalent total daily dose), 71 percent had claims for