Too much or too little opioids to patients receiving opioid agonist therapy in Norway (2013–2017): a prospective cohort study

Table 3 Logistic regression of factors associated with being dispensed an opioid analgesic in 2017

Patients who had ≥1 dispensation of an opioid analgesic	N = 1359
Patients who had ≥1 dispensation of an opioid analgesic	cOR	aOR (95% CI)	p-value
Age
≤ 25	1.00 (ref.)	1.00 (ref.)
26–35	0.93	1.01 (0.60–1.70)	.964
36–45	0.90	1.00 (0.60–1.66)	.985
46–55	1.17	1.31 (0.78–2.18)	.304
≥ 56	1.55	1.59 (0.95–2.68)	.080
Gender
Male	1.00 (ref.)	1.00 (ref.)
Female	1.64	1.44 (1.27–1.64)	< .001
Patients on palliative care	5.00	6.08 (4.67–7.92)	< .001
Patients with chronic pain	3.30	3.64 (3.16–4.19)	< .001
The number of dispensations of OAT opioids per year
≥ 52 (at least weekly)	1.00 (ref.)	1.00 (ref.)
13–51 (at least monthly)	1.10	1.10 (0.88–1.37)	.423
7–12 (less than monthly)	1.35	1.10 (0.85–1.43)	.454
1–6 (less than every second month)	1.98	1.44 (1.07–1.93)	.016
OAT opioids^a
Buprenorphine/Buprenoprhine-naloxone	1.00 (ref.)	1.00 (ref.)
Methadone/Levomethadone	1.04	0.96 (0.84–1.10)	.542
OAT opioid dose ratio per day^b
> 1	1.00 (ref.)	1.00 (ref.)
0.5–1	0.85	0.95 (0.80–1.11)	.497
< 0.5	1.61	1.69 (1.41–2.03)	< .001

The table displays the association between being dispensed an opioid analgesic and age groups, gender, palliative care, chronic pain, the number of dispensations of OAT opioids, the type of dispensed OAT opioid, and the OAT opioid dose ratio among all patients who were dispensed an OAT opioid in 2017
aOR adjusted odds ratio, cOR crude odds ratio, CI confidence interval, OAT opioid agonist therapy
^a The type of OAT opioid that was dispensed on the last dispensation
^b We defined the OAT opioid dose ratio as a mean daily dose of dispensed OAT opioids divided by mean recommended daily dose of OAT opioids (18 mg buprenorphine or 18/4.5 mg buprenorphine/naloxone, 90 mg methadone or 45 mg levomethadone). A ratio of one indicated that patients were dispensed a mean daily dose of OAT opioids equal to the mean recommended dose per day

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