Buprenorphine prescribing practices and exposures reported to a poison center - Utah, 2002-2011

Source: Journal of the American Medical Association Area: Evidence > Medicines Management > References The use of buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid dependence has increased in the United States as a result of the Drug Addiction Treatment Act of 2000, which allowed physicians to prescribe certain medications as part of office-based treatment for opioid addiction.  To assess statewide increases in buprenorphine use and the number of reported exposures, the Utah Department of Health analysed data from the Utah Controlled Substance Database (CSD) and the Utah Poison Control Center (PCC). The results of that analysis indicated a statewide increase in the annual number of patients prescribed buprenorphine from 22 in 2002 to 9793 in 2011, and a concurrent increase in the annual number of prescribers writing buprenorphine prescriptions from 16 to 1088.  Over the same period, the number of exposures to buprenorphine reported annually to the PCC increased from 6 to 81. However, comparison of the ratios of buprenorphine exposures to patients and prescribers in 2002 with ...
Source: NeLM - Mental Health - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: news