Risk of addiction higher in month after opioid initiation compared with long-term use, Aussie research suggests

Lead researcher Dr Chrianna Bharat says there was a dose-response relationship between exposure and risk of opioid use disorder.
Rachel Fieldhouse
Dr Chrianna Bharat (PhD).

Patients who have initiated opioids in the previous month are at a higher risk of an opioid use disorder diagnosis compared with patients who have used them long-term, preliminary findings suggest.

UNSW-led researchers have compared patterns of opioid exposure and the risk of developing an opioid use disorder (OUD) among 2.5 million NSW adults who initiated a prescription opioid between 2003 and 2017.