Table 2.
Chronic users of opioids per follow-up year
| Follow-up time (year) | Total n (% users/% population) | Weak opioids n (% users/% population) | Strong opioids n (% users/% population) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1659 (21.5/3.9) | 1025 (16.4/2.5) | 590 (26.4/1.4) |
| 2 | 996 (22.1/3.2) | 601 (16.2/1.9) | 366 (30.0/1.2) |
| 3 | 709 (23.7/3.2) | 401 (16.8/1.8) | 275 (30.8/1.2) |
| 4 | 440 (22.8/3.0) | 234 (15.5/1.6) | 195 (33.0/1.3) |
| 5 | 276 (23.6/3.1) | 142 (15.1/1.6) | 130 (35.2/1.5) |
| 6 | 159 (24.6/3.4) | 82 (16.7/1.7) | 72 (33.2/1.5) |
| 7 | 81 (27.5/3.8) | 34 (15.7/1.6) | 45 (37.8/2.1) |
| 8 | 38 (31.4/4.1) | 20 (21.5/2.1) | 18 (37.5/1.9) |
| 9 | 13 (29.5/4.9) | 7 (22.6/2.6) | 6 (33.3/2.2) |
A chronic user of opioids has ≥6 prescriptions in 1 follow-up year. The number of total chronic users does not equal the sum of the chronic users of weak and strong opioids. Patients can be included in both categories or can be included in the group of total users if the sum of prescriptions for weak and strong opioids is ≥6 while the use of weak opioids only or strong opioids only is not classified as chronic use.