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. 2012 Jul 19;2(4):e000731. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000731

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Starter group and Continuation group of chronic analgesic treatment. Schedule of prescriptions (Rx) in the Starter group (top) and the Continuation group (bottom) of chronic analgesic treatment covering a 12-month period. Months 7–12 are the observation period; months 1–6 are the pre-observation period. Patients in the Continuation group received the first prescription of analgesics in month 1 of the pre-observation period; there was no follow-up whether analgesics were continued over the entire 6-month interval prior to the observation period. The Starter group did not use any analgesics during the 6-month interval prior to the observation period.