School of Biomedicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Med Sci Law. 2024 Apr;64(2):113-120. doi: 10.1177/00258024231183504. Epub 2023 Jun 23.
Tapentadol is a relatively new synthetic opioid analgesic prescribed for the management of moderate to severe pain. While tapentadol has been shown to be more effective than traditional opioid analgesics, it still carries the risk of addiction, abuse, and misuse. In Australia, tapentadol has become one of the top five most commonly prescribed opioid drugs, with prescriptions increasing by approximately 150,000 each year since it first became available. The rapid increase in tapentadol prescriptions has occurred in parallel to an increasing number of post-mortem tapentadol detections in South Australia (SA). While the number of deaths in SA related to tapentadol use was low in the current study, findings suggest that an increasing trend of deaths involving tapentadol will continue in parallel to a rapidly increasing number of prescriptions, mirroring trends associated with traditional opioids in SA. As a comparatively new opioid analgesic, monitoring future trends will be important to determine if additional prescribing education, intervention, or restrictions are required.
曲马多是一种相对较新的合成阿片类镇痛药，用于治疗中重度疼痛。虽然曲马多已被证明比传统阿片类镇痛药更有效，但它仍然存在成瘾、滥用和误用的风险。在澳大利亚，曲马多已成为最常开的五种阿片类药物之一，自首次上市以来，每年的处方量增加了约 15 万张。曲马多处方的快速增加与南澳大利亚（SA）死后曲马多检测数量的增加同时发生。虽然在目前的研究中，与曲马多使用相关的 SA 死亡人数很少，但研究结果表明，涉及曲马多的死亡人数呈上升趋势，与 SA 中与传统阿片类药物相关的趋势相吻合。作为一种相对较新的阿片类镇痛药，监测未来的趋势将很重要，以确定是否需要额外的处方教育、干预或限制。
