Presented at the 2013 AAPM Annual Meeting « Back

Opioid Use Among Patients with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN)

Kala Hill, MSc, khill@its.jnj.com¹, Sanjay Merchant, PhD², Ravi Chand Potluri, B.Tech, PGDM³, Maneesha Mehra, MSc¹, (1) Johnson and Johnson, Raritan, New Jersey, (2) Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Raritan, New Jersey, (3) SmartAnalyst, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Objective: To evaluate usage of Schedule II, III, and IV opioids among commercially insured U.S. patients with DPN. Methods: Patients aged >18 yrs with a diagnosis of DPN were identified in the Pharmetrics database, a large US claims database. Patients were classified as opioid-naïve (ON) and opioid-experienced (OE) based on exposure to opiods prior to DPN diagnosis. Demographics, co-diagnosis and Schedule II and III/ IV opioid use in the full cohort and in the ON and OE patients over a 12-month follow-up was characterized. Results: 56,244 patients with DPN were identified; average and median age of the cohort was 63 years and 62 years respectively, 52% were male; 19% of patients had a co-diagnosis of Low Back Pain. 60% (33,333) of the sample were exposed to pre-specified DPN-related treatment over the 12-month follow-up. Of the treated patients, 58% (19,330) were ON. 65% of treated patients were exposed to opioids primarily Schedule III/IV. OE patients were more likely to use opioids than ON patients (85% in experienced vs. 50% in naïve) and had better persistency with opioids. This was true both for Schedule II and III/IV opioids. Median time to discontinuation of opioids was >7 months in OE and 2 months in ON patients. Antidepressants and anticonvulsants use was more common in ON patients. Conclusions: Among commercially insured patients with DPN, 40% received none of the pre-specified DPN treatments. Among treated patients, opioid use is widespread particularly in the OE patients.

Funding: None.