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Abstract

Background: Opioid analgesic use and associated adverse events have increased over the last 15 years, including in Australia. Whether this is associated with increased chronic pain prevalence in the Australian population is unknown. This study aimed to estimate (1) the prevalence of chronic pain and analgesia use in the Australian population by age and sex; (2) the severity of pain in the population with chronic pain by sex; and (3) the distribution of recent pain severity in those using analgesia by age and sex.Methods: This study used cross-sectional, nationally representative data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 to 2012 National Health Survey. A total of n = 20 426 participants were included with an overall response rate of 84.8%. Weighting procedures were applied to obtain population estimates, confidence intervals, and when testing for statistical significance.Results: The prevalence of chronic and reoccurring pain (over a 6-month period) was 15.4% (2.75 million) for Australians aged ≥15 years. Prevalence increased with age for both sexes. Significantly more females reported moderate-to-very severe pain overall (P Conclusion: Chronic pain and opioid analgesic use are important public health issues in Australia. Study estimates of chronic pain and recent pain were no greater than earlier estimates. The acknowledged increase of opioid use in the literature thus appears consistent with changing treatment and/or prescribing patterns over time. Sex differences regarding pain prevalence, severity, and opioid use were apparent.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Miller, A and Sanderson, K and Bruno, R and Breslin, M and Neil, AL
Keywords:	analgesia, chronic pain, opioid, pain severity, pharmacoepidemiology
Journal or Publication Title:	Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety
Publisher:	John Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISSN:	1053-8569
DOI / ID Number:	10.1002/pds.4301
Copyright Information:	Copyright 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Related URLs:	UTAS Profile: Sanderson, K Google Scholar: Bruno, R UTAS Profile: Bruno, R Google Scholar: Neil, AL UTAS Profile: Neil, AL
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