Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety
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Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf · Dec 2015
A typology of people who tamper with pharmaceutical opioids: responses to introduction of a tamper-resistant formulation of controlled-release oxycodone.
In April 2014, a tamper-resistant controlled-release oxycodone formulation was released in Australia. We aimed to determine whether there are latent classes of people who tamper with pharmaceutical opioids based on frequency of opioid and illicit drug use, the demographic and clinical profiles of these groups, and if there were changes in use and harms following the introduction. ⋯ Despite heterogeneity among people who tamper with pharmaceutical opioids, the tamper-resistant formulation was followed by reductions in oxycodone tampering among high-frequency and low-frequency users. There was no evidence of increased use of other opioids or illicit drugs.