(A34) Analgesics Utilization in Danish Cystic Fibrosis Patients

Publication Number: 317

Background: Several studies have shown that pain, especially of musculoskeletal origin, is a frequent symptom among both children and adults suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). No previous studies have assessed the use of analgesics among Danish CF patients.

Objectives: We aimed to describe the use of analgesics in a national cohort of CF patients and a matched background population between 2001 and 2018.

Methods: Using the Danish National Prescription Database (DNPR), we performed a drug utilization study in the national Danish Cystic Fibrosis Registry (DCFR) . We included all living patients in the DCFR between 2001 and 2018. Additionally, a background population matched 1:10 on sex and age to the disease population was included.

Drug utilization was measured as the prevalence of drug users, defined as the percentage of persons redeeming at least one prescription per year in each population. We aimed to describe the use of analgesics (ATC code N02) overall and for non-opioids, opioids, NSAIDs, gabapentinoids and paracetamol specifically.

Results: Our population consisted of 628 individuals in the DCFR and 6280 individuals in the background population. 337 individuals (53.6%) in the CF population and 1979 individuals (31.5%) in the background population redeemed a prescription for analgesics in the study period.

The mean prevalence of analgesics users in the study period was approximately 2 ½ times higher in the CF population compared to the background population (15.0% [95% CI: 10.9;19.9] vs 6.0% [95% CI: 4.1;7.8].) The difference in mean prevalence between the CF population and the background population appeared to be stable over time.

For five out of six subgroups of analgesics, the prevalence of users was significantly higher in the CF population. For non-opioid analgesics, the mean prevalence was 11.8% [7.4;16.1] among CF patients and 3.5% [1.7;5.4] in the background population. For opioid analgesics, the mean prevalence was double that of the background population (5.5 % [4.6;6.5] vs 2.5% [2.1;3.0]).

Mean prevalence of NSAID users was 13.1% [12.4;13.7] in the CF-population and 9.3% [8.8;9.8] in the background population. Paracetamol was the most utilized single analgesic with a mean prevalence of 11.5% [7.2;15.9] in the CF-population and 3.5% [1.6;5.4] in the background population. Numbers regarding gabapentinoids were too low to report due to Danish data protection laws.

Conclusions: Utilization of analgesics including opioids was more than two times higher in the CF-population compared to the background population. The difference in analgesics utilization between CF patients and the background population appeared to be stable over time.