Prescribing trends of gabapentin, pregabalin, and oxycodone: a secondary analysis of primary care prescribing patterns in England

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Figure 1. Absolute total number of prescriptions (in millions) of gabapentin, pregabalin, and oxycodone made in primary care per year.
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Figure 2. GIS visualisation of CCG’s mean rate of prescribing of a) gabapentin, b) pregabalin, and c) oxycodone. Missing CCGs are given in white and are excluded due to boundary changes or mergers that occurred during the time period of the study (n = 187).
CCG = clinical commissioning group. GIS = geographic information system.
© Crown copyright and database rights 2019. Ordnance Survey (0) 100019252

Table 2. Median GP practice list size, median rate of gabapentin, pregabalin, and oxycodone prescriptions per 1000 population per GP practice

	2013 Median (95% CI)	2014 Median (95% CI)	2015 Median (95% CI	2016 Median (95% CI)	2017 Median (95% CI)
GP practice list size	5022 (4899 to 5096)	5100 (4935 to 5141)	5283 (5096 to 5300)	5478 (5285 to 5485)	5760 (5538 to 5772)
Gabapentin prescriptions per 1000 population	83.6(82.4 to 85.3)	98.7 (97.2 to 100.4)	113.3 (110.9 to 115.4)	127.2 (124.7 to 129.7)	136.2 (133 .3 to 138.5)
Pregabalin prescriptions per 1000 population	65.8 (64.3 to 66.8)	79.8 (78.6 to 81.4)	92.9 (91.2 to 94.9)	106.9 (104.9 to 108.8)	118.6 (116.8 to 120.2)
Oxycodone prescriptions per 1000 population	2.1 (2.0 to 2.1)	2.3 (2.2 to 2.3)	2.5 (2.4 to 2.7)	2.7 (2.6 to 2.8)	2.8 (2.8 to 2.9)

Table 3. Association between number of prescriptions per person per GP practice and GP practice IMD quintile

	Gabapentin	Pregabalin	Oxycodone
Univariate	RR 95% CI	P value	RR (95% CI)	P value	RR	P value
IMD quintile
(least deprived) 1	1 (Ref)	Ref	1 (Ref)	Ref	1 (Ref)	Ref
2	1.26 (1.22 to 1.31)	<0.001	1.2 (1.16 to 1.24)	<0.001	1.19 (1.13 to 1.25)	<0.001
3	1.53 (1.48 to 1.58)	<0.001	1.35 (1.31 to 1.40)	<0.001	1.37 (1.31 to 1.44)	<0.001
4	1.8 (1.745 to 1.86)	<0.001	1.56 (1.51 to 1.61)	<0.001	1.47 (1.40 to 1.54)	<0.001
(most deprived) 5	2.29 (2.22 to 2.37)	<0.001	1.86 (1.80 to 1.92)	<0.001	1.71 (1.63 to 1.80)	<0.001
Multivariate
IMD quintile
(least deprived) 1	1 (Ref)	Ref	1 (Ref)	Ref	1 (Ref)	Ref
2	1.24 (1.21 to 1.28)	<0.001	1.2 (1.16 to 1.23)	<0.001	1.2 (1.15 to 1.25)	<0.001
3	1.59 (1.54 to 1.63)	<0.001	1.39 (1.35 to 1.44)	<0.001	1.47 (1.40 to 1.53)	<0.001
4	2.12 (2.06 to 2.18)	<0.001	1.79 (1.74 to 1.845)	<0.001	1.82 (1.74 to 1.90)	<0.001
(most deprived) 5	3.13 (3.04 to 3.23)	<0.001	2.38 (2.30 to 2.45)	<0.001	2.54 (2.42 to 2.66)	<0.001
Year
2013	1 (Ref)	Ref	1 (Ref)	Ref	1 (Ref)	Ref
2014	1.2 (1.175 to 1.22)	<0.001	1.24 (1.21 to 1.26)	<0.001	1.11 (1.07 to 1.14)	<0.001
2015	1.36 (1.33 to 1.38)	<0.001	1.42 (1.40 to 1.45)	<0.001	1.19 (1.16 to 1.22)	<0.001
2016	1.51 (1.48 to 1.54)	<0.001	1.62 (1.59 to 1.655)	<0.001	1.26 (1.225 to 1.30)	<0.001
2017	1.55 (1.525 to 1.58)	<0.001	1.75 (1.72 to 1.79)	<0.001	1.27 (1.23 to 1.31)	<0.001
Sex
% female	1 (0.10 to 1.00)	0.088	1 (0.10 to 1.00)	0.201	1.02 (1.02 to 1.03)	<0.001
Age
% ≥65 years	1.04 (1.04 to 1.04)	<0.001	1.03 (1.03 to 1.03)	<0.001	1.04 (1.04 to 1.04)	<0.001

Table 4. CCGs with the highest total number of gabapentin, pregabalin, and oxycodone prescriptions per 1000 population in 2017/2018.

Gabapentin	Pregabalin	Oxycodone
CCG	Number of prescriptions (per 1000 population)	CCG	Number of prescriptions (per 1000 population)	CCG	Number of prescriptions (per 1000 population)
NHS Hardwick	370.2	NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield	283.9	NHS Hull	129.0
NHS Blackpool	370.1	NHS Darlington	283.6	NHS Salford	91.0
NHS Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield	369.8	NHS Lincolnshire East	283.6	NHS Blackburn with Darwen	87.8
NHS Sunderland	350.7	NHS South Tees	274.8	NHS Sunderland	83.6
NHS Salford	345.9	NHS Sunderland	272.8	NHS Thanet	81.7