Descriptive characteristics of the patients who were strong opioid users
| Strong opioid prescribing characteristics in patients with chronic pain | n (%)a,b |
|---|---|
| Total patients | 13 483 |
| Age, years, median (range) | 65 (52–77) |
| Sex | |
| Male | 4938 (37) |
| Female | 8363 (62) |
| Ethnicity | |
| Asian | 171 (1) |
| Black | 59 (0.4) |
| Mixed | 46 (0.3) |
| Other | 42 (0.3) |
| White | 10 171 (75) |
| District | |
| City/town | 9021 (67) |
| Conurbation | 2275 (17) |
| Rural | 1281 (10) |
| IMD patient quintiles | |
| 1 | 2259 (17) |
| 2 | 2215 (16) |
| 3 | 2697 (20) |
| 4 | 2753 (20) |
| 5 | 2646 (20) |
| Alcohol use | |
| Alcoholism | 850 (6) |
| Hazardous | 3848 (29) |
| Non-drinker | 3538 (26) |
| Safe | 4033 (30) |
| Anxiety episode countc | |
| None | 13 255 (98) |
| >1 | 46 (0.3) |
| Depression episode countd | |
| None | 13 019 (97) |
| >1 | 282 (2) |
| Mental health referrale | |
| None | 13 183 (98) |
| >1 | 118 (1) |
| Stress episode countsf | |
| None | 13 295 (99) |
| >1 | 6 (0.04) |
| >1 hypnotic prescription | 801 (6) |
| NHS region | |
| London | 45 (0.3) |
| Midlands and east | 1588 (12) |
| North | 7246 (54) |
| South | 4604 (34) |
| Clinical system | |
| EMIS web TPP | 5759 (43) |
| SystmOne | 7724 (57) |
↵a Unless otherwise stated.
↵b Most values do not sum to 100% because their remainder were missing data or not coded.
↵c Number of Anxiety counts: 0 = 13 255; 1 = 39; 2 = 5; 3 = 1; 4 = 1.
↵d Number of depression episode counts: 0 = 13 019; 1 = 193; 2 = 47; 3 = 22; 4 = 13; 5 = 2; 6 = 2; 7 = 2; 10 = 1.
↵e Mental health referral count: 0 = 13 183; 1 = 93; 2 = 22; 3 = 1; 4 = 2.
↵f Stress count: 0 = 13 295; 1 = 5; 4 = 1. IMD = Index of Multiple Deprivation.