Monitoring opioid analgesic misuse, abuse and dependence: What to the data from addictovigilance tell us about the situation in France?

Abstract

The opioid epidemic has emerged in the USA in the late 1990s and widespread to Canada, Australia, and the UK to a lesser extent in the more recent years. At the European level, several studies performed in different European countries have highlighted that prescription opioid use increased substantially over the last decade, and several proxies for misuse show a parallel increasing trend. The French addictovigilance experience on opioid analgesics is a good example of a specific dedicated monitoring, taking into account in a global and multisource perspective, patterns of utilization, population involved in problematic use, ways of acquisition and health complications. The added value of this data triangulation is illustrated by the recent data on tramadol and oxycodone. The addictovigilance monitoring is particularly relevant to identify early signals of potential problematic use and to assess the impact of campaigns for opioid analgesics rational use and regulatory changes.

Keywords: Addictovigilance; Codeine; Fentanyl; Morphine; Opioid analgesics; Opioid use disorder; Oxycodone; Safety; Tramadol.