TORONTO – According to a study released last Friday, Saskatchewan has one of the fastest growing rates for high-dose opioids in the country.
Researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) found that rates of high-dose opioid dispensing across Canada increased by 23 per cent between 2006 and 2011.
Rates in Saskatchewan rose substantially by 54 per cent. The province also had the second highest rate of high-dose hydromorphone dispensing at 258 units per 1,000 people.
The study shows that dispensing rates remained relatively stable in Alberta and B.C. and were lowest in Quebec. However, Ontario exhibited the highest rate, prescribing more than one unit per person annually.
Lead author Tara Gomes said there are several potential explanations for provincial differences, including varying health coverage, training and marketing.
“Provinces not only differed in their prevalence of high-dose opioid prescribing, but each province also appears to favour different opioids,” said Gomes, a scientist at ICES and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital.
Gomes says provinces may need slightly different strategies to combat this.
Over 180 million units of high-dose opioid tablets and patches were dispensed across Canada during the six-year study period. Almost half were oxycodone tablets.
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