Table 3.
Opioid dosage patterns
| Opioid HZ cohort | ||
|---|---|---|
| Characteristic, statistic | 41,065 | 100.0% |
| Days opioid medication supplied | ||
| Mean (SD) | 5.9 | 5.3 |
| Median | 5 | |
| Minimum, maximum | 1.0 | 90 |
| Opioid dose at initiation (morphine milligram equivalent in mg) | ||
| Mean (SD) | 6.2 | 2.1 |
| Median | 5 | |
| Minimum, maximum | 1.8 | 60 |
| Number of opioid prescriptions during the postindex period | ||
| Mean (SD) | 1.6 | 1.6 |
| Median | 1 | |
| Minimum, maximum | 1 | 35 |
| Number of opioid prescriptions filled during the postindex period | ||
| 1 | 28,070 | 68.4% |
| 2 | 7,676 | 18.7% |
| 3 | 2,622 | 6.4% |
| 4 + | 2,697 | 6.6% |
| Days from HZ index date to first observed opioid prescription | ||
| Mean (SD) | 75.3 | 109.0 |
| Median | 3.0 | |
| Minimum, maximum | 1.0 | 366.0 |
| Patients filling a prescription for an opioid during each month of the follow-up period (N, %) | ||
| Month 1 | 25,203 | 61.4% |
| Month 2 | 3,194 | 7.8% |
| Month 3 | 2,915 | 7.1% |
| Month 4 | 2,935 | 7.1% |
| Month 5 | 2,836 | 6.9% |
| Month 6 | 2,921 | 7.1% |
| Month 7 | 2,816 | 6.9% |
| Month 8 | 2,815 | 6.9% |
| Month 9 | 2,953 | 7.2% |
| Month 10 | 2,872 | 7.0% |
| Month 11 | 2,883 | 7.0% |
| Month 12 | 3,058 | 7.4% |
| Opioid dose escalation during the postindex period | ||
| No | 36,609 | 89.1% |
| Yes | 4,456 | 10.9% |
| Patients switched from weak to strong opioids during the postindex period | ||
| No | 38,596 | 94.0% |
| Yes | 2,469 | 6.0% |
HZ: herpes zoster; SD: standard deviation.