Physicians should ask their patients specifically about the use of non-prescribed analgesics when taking medication histories, concluded the largest published collection of cases examining over-the-counter (OTC) codeine-ibuprofen misuse.

Finding several serious morbidities among the cases, the researchers also recommended that pharmacists “consider the risk of misuse when supplying these combination analgesic products”. Their research has been published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

The researchers found that opioid dependence and gastro-intestinal complications were the most common morbidities among the 27 patients who had been taking codeine-ibuprofen for almost four years on average.

Details on these 27 cases were collected from hospital-based addiction medicine specialists between May 2005 and December 2008...