Table 2.
The daily doses of dispensed potentially addictive drugs
| a) | ||||||
| All indications | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Benzodiazepine and z-hypnotic dose per patient (in diazepam equivalents) | mean (lowest-highest) | |||||
| Mean (mg/day) | 21 (17–29) | 20 (16–27) | 19 (15–25) | 17 (14–23) | 17 (14–22) | |
| Median (mg/day) | 10 (9–12) | 10 (9–12) | 10 (8–12) | 10 (8–12) | 10 (8–11) | |
| 25 percentile (mg/day) | 3 (2–3) | 2 (2–3) | 3 (2–3) | 3 (2–3) | 3 (2–3) | |
| 75 percentile (mg/day) | 23 (20–29) | 22 (19–27) | 21 (18–26) | 21 (18–26) | 20 (18–25) | |
| All indications | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Pregabalin dose per patient | Mean (mg/day) | 365 | 365 | 371 | 381 | 386 |
| Median (mg/day) | 205 | 230 | 249 | 285 | 255 | |
| 25 percentile (mg/day) | 46 | 74 | 62 | 84 | 69 | |
| 75 percentile (mg/day) | 506 | 552 | 552 | 561 | 552 | |
| All indications | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Gabapentin dose per patient | Mean (mg/day) | 911 | 970 | 997 | 960 | 1047 |
| Median (mg/day) | 411 | 488 | 493 | 493 | 513 | |
| 25 percentile (mg/day) | 82 | 124 | 82 | 82 | 164 | |
| 75 percentile (mg/day) | 1228 | 1314 | 1383 | 1286 | 1430 | |
| b) | ||||||
| All indications | 2013 | 2017 | ||||
| Mean dose (95 % CI) | Mean dose (95% CI) | |||||
| Diazepam equivalents per patient | ||||||
| Benzodiazepine and z-hypnotic dose per patient (in diazepam equivalents) | Mean (mg/day) | 21 (20–23)a | 17 (16–17)b | |||
| Pregabalin dose per patient | Mean (mg/day) | 365 (309–421)c | 386 (349–423)d | |||
| Gabapentin dose per patient | Mean (mg/day) | 911 (753–1068)e | 1047 (885–1209)f | |||
Df Degrees of freedom, Lowest Lowest equipotency dose, Highest Highest equipotency dose, and Mean = Min + Max divided by 2
aOne sample t-test, df = 3746, bone sample t-test, df = 3761, cone sample t-test, df = 486, done sample t-test, df = 590, eone sample t-test, df = 260, and fone sample t-test, df = 309
The table a) displays the daily doses (mean, median, 25 percentile, and 75 percentile) of dispensed benzodiazepines or z-hypnotics (calculated in diazepam equivalents), pregabalin and gabapentin per year among patients on OAT in Norway in period 2013 to 2017
The table b) displays the mean daily doses of dispensed benzodiazepines or z-hypnotics (calculated in diazepam equivalents), pregabalin and gabapentin in 2013 and 2017. The 95% confidence intervals were calculated by one-sample t-test analyses
For table a) and b), an equipotency table for benzodiazepines and z-hypnotics were used to make sensitivity analyses displaying the lowest equipotency dose and the highest equipotency dose of the included benzodiazepines and z-hypnotics. The results were presented in parentheses. All dispensed benzodiazepines and z-hypnotics were summarized per year