5.7 Opioid medicines dispensing, all ages
The Third Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation investigates healthcare use in four clinical areas, as well as patterns of medicines dispensing over time. Opioid medicines dispensing is included in Chapter 5, Repeat analyses.
Why explore use of these medicines over time?
Growing concerns about the potential harms to individuals and the community from high and rising use of these medicines demonstrates a clear need to monitor variations in their use across Australia.
Improving opioid medicines use is a national priority as a result of recent increases in misuse, overdose and opioid dependence. Between 2011 and 2015, twice as many people died from overdose due to an opioid medicine than due to heroin (2,145 compared with 985). Opioids are one of the priority substances identified in the National Drug Strategy 2017–2026. Increased opioid misuse has also prompted a number of national regulatory and policy responses in Australia over the past three years to support harm minimisation.
Time series graph
This section examines opiod medicines dispensing in Australia from 2013-14 to 2016-17 for people of all ages.
Each rectangle in the graph below represents an SA3. SA3s are geographical areas defined by the ABS that provide a standardised regional breakdown of Australia. SA3s generally have populations between 30,000 and 130,000 people.
Opioid medicines dispensing, all ages
Download the data
Download the data sheets for opioid medicines dispensing (2013-14 to 2016-17):
About the data
About the data - Opioid medicines dispensing, all ages
Data are sourced from the PBS dataset. This dataset includes all prescriptions dispensed under the PBS or the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, including prescriptions that do not receive an Australian Government subsidy. Note that some dispensed medicines may not be consumed by the patient.
The dataset does not include prescriptions dispensed for patients during their hospitalisation in public hospitals, discharge prescriptions dispensed from public hospitals in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, direct supply of medicines to remote Aboriginal health services, over-the-counter purchase of medicines, doctor’s bag medicines and private prescriptions.
The data do not include codeine-based pain medicines that were available over the counter and became Schedule 4 prescription medicines in February 2018.
This analysis was not undertaken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status because this information was not available for PBS data at the time of publication.
Changes have been made to the data specification used in the first Atlas to improve the robustness of comparing rates over time. The main change is the addition of sex standardisation, as the data specification for the first Atlas standardised for age only. These changes have resulted in small differences in the rates reported for 2013-14 in the first Atlas and in this Atlas. The rates reported in this Atlas should be used to monitor changes over time.
About the Atlas and how to interpret the data visualisations
This document outlines how to interpret the data correctly and explains the limitations of the data prior to using the Atlas:
Data specifications
Opioid medicines dispensing, all ages
Download the data
Download the data sheets for opioid medicines dispensing (2013-14 to 2016-17):
About the data
About the data - Opioid medicines dispensing, all ages
Data are sourced from the PBS dataset. This dataset includes all prescriptions dispensed under the PBS or the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, including prescriptions that do not receive an Australian Government subsidy. Note that some dispensed medicines may not be consumed by the patient.
The dataset does not include prescriptions dispensed for patients during their hospitalisation in public hospitals, discharge prescriptions dispensed from public hospitals in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, direct supply of medicines to remote Aboriginal health services, over-the-counter purchase of medicines, doctor’s bag medicines and private prescriptions.
The data do not include codeine-based pain medicines that were available over the counter and became Schedule 4 prescription medicines in February 2018.
This analysis was not undertaken by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status because this information was not available for PBS data at the time of publication.
Changes have been made to the data specification used in the first Atlas to improve the robustness of comparing rates over time. The main change is the addition of sex standardisation, as the data specification for the first Atlas standardised for age only. These changes have resulted in small differences in the rates reported for 2013-14 in the first Atlas and in this Atlas. The rates reported in this Atlas should be used to monitor changes over time.
About the Atlas and how to interpret the data visualisations
This document outlines how to interpret the data correctly and explains the limitations of the data prior to using the Atlas:
Data specifications