• B Brüggenjürgen, J Burkowitz, and S N Willich.
• Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Institut für Sozialmedizin, Epidemiologie und Gesundheitsökonomie, Berlin, Germany. bernd.brueggenjuergen@charite.de
• Gesundheitswesen. 2007 Jun 1;69(6):353-8.

AbstractIn Germany, opioid therapy of patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain has not been sufficiently scrutinised. Furthermore, no observational resource utilisation study for these patients concerning the treatment with opioids is available. For the analysis of outpatient costs 6 months before and after the first prescription of different opioids (oxycodone HCI, fentanyl TD, morphine retard), data from the IMS disease analyser (mediplus) database were employed. Costs of the opioids differed significantly. Highest costs could be observed for the therapy with fentanyl (601.36 euro), followed by oxycodone (355.80 euro) and morphine (229.47 euro). Patients under treatment with oxycodene showed lower costs for other drugs compared with those under treatment with fentanyl and morphine during the opioid therapy, although there were no differences in the period before the first prescription of opioids. The number of consultations rose significantly after the first prescription of opioids. Patients with chronic pain, who are treated with long-lasting opioids for the first time, initially use considerably more healthcare resources. The type of opioid influences the amount of resource utilisation.

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