THUNDER BAY -- A new report has delineated the geographical variations in opioid prescribing across the province of Ontario.
The study released by the Ontario Drug Policy Network found that the highest percentages of residents dispensed opioids to treat addiction last year were in the Thunder Bay District (2.2 per cent of the total district population). In all, 3234 residents were prescribed methadone or suboxone because of addiction.
Opioid prescribing for drug addiction in the Northwestern Health Unit (headquartered in Kenora) was at a rate of about 1 per cent of the population, tying that district with three others for the second highest in the province.
Researchers also calculated the annualized rate of opioid-related deaths from 2013-2016, and found notable variations across the province, confirming analyses done in the past.
The rate was highest in the Thunder Bay District (14 per 100,000 residents, based on 63 deaths). Timiskaming District was second highest at about 11 per 100,000 population).
The report showed that 16 per cent of Thunder Bay District residents were prescribed opioids for treatment of pain last year. That was just behind two other districts where residents received opioids for pain at the highest rate in the province.
Ontario doctors, in general, appear to be prescribing lower amounts of opioid overall to treat pain. The volume of opioids dispensed fell by 18 per cent from 2015 to 2017.
However, about 40 per cent of prescriptions given to continuing users of pain medication in 2016 were for daily doses that surpassed new national guidelines published earlier this year.
The Ontario government late last year announced it was implementing a comprehensive opioid strategy to prevent opioid addiction and overdose by enhancing data collection, "modernizing" prescribing and dispensing practices and connecting patients with addiction treatment services.
