Opioid Analgesic Prescription in French Children: A National Population-Based Study

Samira Choufi, Simon Mounier, Etienne Merlin, Emmanuelle Rochette, Jessica Delorme, Nicolas Authier and Chouki Chenaf
Additional contact information
Samira Choufi: Pédiatrie, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Simon Mounier: Pédiatrie, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Etienne Merlin: Pédiatrie, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Emmanuelle Rochette: Pédiatrie, CHU Clermont-Ferrand, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Jessica Delorme: CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Inserm 1107, Neuro-Dol, Service de Pharmacologie Médicale, Centres Addictovigilance et Pharmacovigilance, Centre Evaluation et Traitement de la Douleur, Université Clermont Auvergne, F-63003 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Nicolas Authier: CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Inserm 1107, Neuro-Dol, Service de Pharmacologie Médicale, Centres Addictovigilance et Pharmacovigilance, Centre Evaluation et Traitement de la Douleur, Université Clermont Auvergne, F-63003 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Chouki Chenaf: CHU Clermont-Ferrand, Inserm 1107, Neuro-Dol, Service de Pharmacologie Médicale, Centres Addictovigilance et Pharmacovigilance, Centre Evaluation et Traitement de la Douleur, Université Clermont Auvergne, F-63003 Clermont-Ferrand, France

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-10

Abstract: Codeine use was restricted in 2013 and is currently contraindicated for children below the age of 12 years. We examined how the prescription of opioid analgesics in children in France evolved between 2012 and 2018. Our population-based study from the SNIIRAM database (National System of Health Insurance Inter-Regime Information) was designed to determine trends in opioid prescription from 2012 to 2018 in all French children. The number of children who received at least one opioid prescription gradually declined from 452,665 in 2012 (347.5 children per 10,000) to 169,338 in 2018 (130.3 children per 10,000). This decrease was especially marked for codeine (36 children per 10,000 in 2018 vs. 308.5 children per 10,000 in 2012), whereas the number of tramadol prescriptions increased by 171% in 2018 (94.6 children per 10,000). Despite the increase, strong opioids still formed only a small proportion of prescriptions (2.6 children per 10,000 given opioids in 2018). Overall opioid prescriptions in French children dramatically decreased between 2012 and 2018, probably owing to restrictions on the use of codeine. Codeine has been partly replaced by tramadol. Morphine is still probably underused. This suggests that opioids are being used less often for pain management in children.

Keywords: analgesics; pediatrics; codeine; morphine; tramadol; pain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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