Codeine consumption from over-the-counter anti-cough syrup in Taiwan: A useful indicator for opioid abuse.

CONCLUSION: The fairly low and stable consumption of prescription codeine suggested that physicians in Taiwan were careful in prescribing codeine, and that the medical demand for codeine was stable. The large variance in OTC codeine consumption suggested that a minority of consumers purchased significant quantities of codeine for non-medical purposes. Although opioids in cough syrup were not a large part of overall consumption and thus not widely abused, the data revealed that OTC codeine-containing cough syrup may serve as an indicator of potential drug abuse in the population as compared to prescription codeine. PMID: 26646544 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26646544?dopt=Abstract

Source: Acta Anaesthesiologica Taiwanica - November 29, 2015 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Lo MY, Ong MW, Lin JG, Sun WZ Tags: Acta Anaesthesiol Taiwan Source Type: research