Trends in Opioid Use in a Cohort of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Table 2

Patterns of the use of opioids for pain management in a cohort of 1,129 patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Colombia.

Drug	n = 1129	(%)	Doses (mean)	Interval (no. of doses/day)	nDDD^a	Therapy duration (months)	Percent female	Mean age (years)
Weak opioids
Codeine	861	76.3	47.7	3	0.47	24.1	0.83	61.5 + 11.6
Tramadol	803	71.1	NA	NA	NA	21.6	0.83	61.5 + 11.6
Hydrocodone	252	22.3	12.9	3	0.86	35.6	0.85	64.9 + 11.2
Tapentadol	9	0.8	109.7	2	0.27	41.3	0.67	64.2 + 11.9
Strong opioids
Oxycodone	76	6.7	32.3	2	0.43	36.0	0.87	64.4 + 12.8
Morphine	74	6.6	NA	NA	NA	35.1	0.81	64.2 + 10.8
Hydromorphone	63	5.6	6.7	1	0.33	36.4	0.86	65.7 + 11.4
Methadone	7	0.6	32.4	3	1.29	53.7	100.00	72.3 + 7.9

Presentation most used in bottle with dropper. ^aRelationship between the mean dose and the defined daily dose. Defined daily dose (DDD): gold standard measuring unit for international drug utilization, monitoring, and research (recommended by the WHO). Each medication has a daily dose defined by the WHO; the calculation presented is the ratio between the average used and the defined daily dose. Being 1, the use of the same dose recommended as DDD.