Opioids are being used increasingly to treat chronic noncancer pain despite the uncertainty regarding its long-term benefits. This study served to determine if problems are associated with opioid use in Québec for new users from 2006 to 2013 without history of cancer.

A retrospective longitudinal cohort study was conducted using administrative databases stored at the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) to describe the annual proportion of new users to whom at least one of the five indicators of potentially inappropriate opioid use applied was estimated. These indicators are (i) overlapping opioid prescriptions, (ii) overlapping opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions, (iii) the use of long-acting opioids at the start of treatment, (iv) a high mean daily dose, and (v) a rapid increase in the opioid dose.

The annual proportion of new users to whom at least one of the five indicators of potentially inappropriate opioid use applied decreased from 15.4 percent in 2006 to 12.3 percent in 2013. It was mainly the following three indicators that contributed the most to these proportions in 2013: (i) overlapping opioid prescriptions (5.8 percent), (ii) overlapping opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions (8.2 percent), and (iii) the use of long-acting opioids at the start of treatment (1.8 percent).

The vast majority of new users with no history of diagnosed cancer used opioids adequately according to the five indicators of potentially inappropriate opioid use applied. Improvement could still be made to decrease mainly overlapping opioid prescriptions and overlapping opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions.