• Sven Buth, Rüdiger Holzbach, Marcus-Sebastian Martens, Eike Neumann-Runde, Ommo Meiners, and Uwe Verthein.
• Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research at the University of Hamburg (ZIS), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg; Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Hochsauerland Hospital Group, Arnsberg; North German Pharmacy Data Center/Pharmacy Billing Center (NARZ/AVN).
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019 Sep 13; 116 (37): 607614607-614.

BackgroundAn estimated 1.4 to 2.6 million people in German suffer from drug dependence. Most of them are long-term users of benzodiazepines (BZD), Z drugs (ZD), or opioid analgesics (OA).MethodsThis analysis is based on prescription data from patients of the national statutory health insurance system in the German federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen, and Lower Saxony. Drug-taking trends, duration, dosage, and long-term use of BZD, ZD, and OA in the years 2006 to 2015 are analyzed; prevalences are estimated for the years 2006 to 2016.ResultsIn 2006, 7.7% of patients received at least one prescription for a BZD, ZD, or OA; in 2016, 7.0% did. Over the period of analysis, a marked drop was seen in prescriptions of BZD and a slight fall in prescriptions of ZD (2006: BZD 3.5%, ZS 1.1%; 2016: BZD 2.0%, ZS 0.8%), but there was also an increase in prescriptions of OA, from 4.2% to 4.9%. The number of defined daily doses (DDD) prescribed per year fell for both BZD and ZD. For OA, the number of DDD prescribed per year rose from 2006 to 2009 and decreased by a small amount in subsequent years. The proportions of BZD and ZD patients who had long-term prescriptions fell over time, while the corresponding percentage of OA patients rose.ConclusionNearly one-fifth of all prescriptions for BZD were long-term prescriptions for an entire year, in violation of the relevant guidelines. The rising prevalence of OA use was in the expected range in view of the aging population, but the number of prescriptions rose among younger patients as well. This trend toward more common treatment with opioid analgesics should be critically examined.

20 keywords...

hide…