Opioids for outpatients with cancer in their last year of life: A nationwide pharmacoepidemiological study.

Objective: Opioids are the main pharmacological treatment for moderate-to-severe cancer pain. Few longitudinal studies have examined the prescription prevalence (PP) of opioids to patients with cancer. The aims of the study were to examine 1) changes in the PP of opioids from 2005 to 2009 among outpatients with cancer who were in their last year of life and 2) associations between the PP of opioids and medical and sociodemographic factors.

Antidepressants to cancer patients during the last year of life--a population-based study.

Objective: Although depression is common among incurable cancer patients, the prescription prevalence of antidepressants (ADs) to these patients is largely unknown. Aims were to examine the prescription prevalence of ADs in the last year of life in a 2-year national cancer death cohort and to examine its associations with sociodemographic and medical variables.

Methods: Nationwide, 20,627 cancer deaths in adults were identified by combining the Norwegian Central Population and Cancer Registries.