Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2024 Nov-Dec;18(6):683-688.
doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000001348. Epub 2024 Jul 16.

Trend in Prescription Medication Utilization for Opioid Use Disorder and Alcohol Use Disorder From 2015 to 2021: A Population-wide Study in a Canadian Province

Kearley Abbott  1 , Rachel Hyrsak, James M Bolton, Jitender Sareen, Murray W Enns, Geoffrey Konrad, Erin Knight, Sherif Eltonsy, Kaarina Kowalec, Jamison Falk, Silvia Alessi-Severini, Kun Liu, Heather Prior, Christine Leong
Affiliations
Observational Study

Trend in Prescription Medication Utilization for Opioid Use Disorder and Alcohol Use Disorder From 2015 to 2021: A Population-wide Study in a Canadian Province

Kearley Abbott et al. J Addict Med. 2024 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the quarterly incidence and prevalence of medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) from 2015 to 2021.

Methods: A retrospective population-wide observational study in Manitoba, Canada, was conducted using administrative claims data from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy to examine the incidence and prevalence of OUD (methadone, buprenorphine-naloxone, buprenorphine) or AUD medications (naltrexone, acamprosate, disulfiram) per 10,000 individuals in each quarter between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2021.

Results: There were 1179 and 451 individuals who received at least one prescription for OUD and AUD, respectively, in the first quarter of 2020. The prevalence of OUD medications more than doubled from 6.3 to 14.3 per 10,000 from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2021. Likewise, AUD medication prevalence increased almost 10-fold from 0.68 to 6.5 per 10,000 from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2021, primarily due to naltrexone. The incidence of AUD prescription use increased 8.6-fold from 0.29 to 2.51 per 10,000 during the study period. In contrast, the incidence of opioid agonist therapy declined from 2.1 per 10,000 in the first quarter of 2015 to 0.53 per 10,000 the first quarter of 2016, primarily due to methadone. Whereas methadone incidence declined, buprenorphine-naloxone incidence increased almost 15-fold during the study period.

Conclusion: An increase in both AUD medication prevalence and incidence in addition to an increase in buprenorphine-naloxone incidence was observed. These findings reflect an increase in the uptake of medications for treating AUD and OUD following changes to improve coverage and access to these medications.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence rates per 10,000 people for those receiving OAT and AUD prescription from 2015 to 2021. AUD indicates alcohol use disorder pharmacotherapy; OAT, opioid agonist therapy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A, Prevalence rates per 10,000 people for those receiving specific OAT prescription from 2015 to 2021 (n = 1179). B, Prevalence rates per 10,000 people for those receiving specific AUD prescription from 2015 to 2021 (n = 451). AUD indicates alcohol use disorder pharmacotherapy; OAT, opioid agonist therapy.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Incidence rates per 10,000 people for those receiving OAT and AUD prescription from 2015 to 2021. AUD indicates alcohol use disorder pharmacotherapy; OAT, opioid agonist therapy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
A, Incidence rates per 10,000 people for those receiving specific OAT prescription from 2015 to 2021 (n = 1179). B, Incidence rates per 10,000 people for those receiving specific AUD prescription from 2015 to 2021 (n = 451). AUD indicates alcohol use disorder pharmacotherapy; OAT, opioid agonist therapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) . Drug misuse and addiction. Available at: https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addictio.... Accessed October 13, 2023. - PubMed
    1. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) . World Drug Report 2022. United Nations Publication, 2022. Available at: www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/world-drug-report-2022.html. Accessed October 13, 2023.
    1. Castelpietra G Knudsen AKS Agardh EE, et al. . The burden of mental disorders, substance use disorders and self-harm among young people in Europe, 1990–2019: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2022;16:100341. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Government of Manitoba . Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit. Substance Related Harms Surveillance. Last updated October 13, 2023. Available at: https://manitoba.ca/mh/srh-public-report.html. Accessed December 12, 2023.
    1. Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction . Alcohol (Canadian Drug Summary). 2019. Available at: https://www.ccsa.ca/alcohol-canadian-drug-summary. Accessed December 12, 2023.

Publication types

MeSH terms