Substance Use - Opioids
Clinical Guidelines
Discover the guidelines on opioid use in older adults.
For Health Care Professionals
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For Older Adults & Care Partners
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Opioid Use Among Older Adults
There is a growing population of older adults developing opioid use disorder (OUD). In addition to this, there are older adults with longstanding OUD (including people who use illicit opioids) who require treatment for their addiction and related health problems.
In Canada, 43.9% of adults over 55 years of age have used a prescription opioid and 1.1% of that group have done so daily (or almost daily) in the last year (Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, 2018).