Participants who discontinued use of opioids or switched opioids in the 8 months after Apr. 1, 2014, compared with the control group (2013), stratified by age group
| Personal-level change | No. (%) of participants | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aged < 45 yr | Aged 45–64 yr | Aged 65–79 yr | Aged ≥ 80 yr | |||||
| 2013 cohort n = 1365 | 2014 cohort n = 1247 | 2013 cohort n = 2642 | 2014 cohort n = 2588 | 2013 cohort n = 1753 | 2014 cohort n = 1563 | 2013 cohort n = 942 | 2014 cohort n = 797 | |
| Discontinued use of all strong opioids | 779 (57.1) | 706 (56.6) | 1174 (44.4) | 1130 (43.7) | 910 (51.9) | 766 (49.0) | 412 (43.7) | 341 (42.8) |
| Switched to any strong opioid | 120 (8.8) | 182 (14.6) | 251 (9.5) | 354 (13.7) | 251 (14.3) | 265 (17.0) | 161 (17.1) | 148 (18.6) |
| Replacement opioid switched to | ||||||||
| Buprenorphine | 23 (1.7) | 17 (1.4) | 40 (1.5) | 39 (1.5) | 43 (2.5) | 29 (1.9) | 34 (3.6) | 33 (4.1) |
| Fentanyl | 13 (1.0) | 14 (1.1) | 29 (1.1) | 30 (1.2) | 40 (2.3) | 16 (1.0) | 27 (2.9) | 16 (2.0) |
| Morphine | 11 (0.8) | 44 (3.5) | 34 (1.3) | 60 (2.3) | 36 (2.1) | 40 (2.6) | 36 (3.8) | 22 (2.8) |
| Oxycodone/naloxone | 49 (3.6) | 68 (5.5) | 94 (3.6) | 137 (5.3) | 93 (5.3) | 126 (8.1) | 53 (5.6) | 66 (8.3) |
| Other strong opioids (i.e., oxycodone IR, methadone, hydromorphone) | 23 (1.7) | 30 (2.4) | 54 (2.0) | 61 (2.4) | 39 (2.2) | 43 (2.8) | 11 (1.2) | 9 (1.1) |
| Tapentadol* | 0 (0.0) | 9 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | 26 (1.0) | 0 (0.0) | 11 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (0.3) |
Note: IR = immediate release.
↵* Tapentadol was listed in the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme on July 1, 2014.