Opioid dependence – and other problematic opioid behaviours in people with chronic pain – is associated with patient risk factors, rather than simply higher opioid doses, says a new report.
Opioid-dependent patients are five times more likely to die in the first four weeks of treatment if they are prescribed methadone rather than the alternative treatment, buprenorphine, a new study shows.
A study by UNSW's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre has found the number of Australians receiving treatment for dependence on the painkillers codeine and oxycodone trebled in ten years.
