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Papers of the Week


2022


PLoS One


17


4

Opioid prescribing in out-of-hours primary care in Flanders and the Netherlands: A retrospective cross-sectional study.

Authors

Hek K, Boogaerts T, Verheij RA, De Loof H, van Dijk L, van Nuijs ALN, Meijer WM, Philips H
PLoS One. 2022; 17(4):e0265283.
PMID: 35390027.

Abstract

Increased opioid prescribing has raised concern, as the benefits of pain relief not always outweigh the risks. Acute and chronic pain is often treated in a primary care out-of-hours (OOH) setting. This setting may be a driver of opioid use but the extent to which opioids are prescribed OOH is unknown. We aimed to investigate weak and strong opioid prescribing at OOH primary care services (PCS) in Flanders (Northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) and the Netherlands between 2015 and 2019.