Thorlund JB, et al. – In this study, researchers quantified opioid use in patients with knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA), and calculated the proportion of opioids in the population attributable to patients with OA. Study participants included 751,579 inhabitants of southern Sweden aged ≥ 35 years (in 2015). Between November 2013 and October 2015, the investigators identified dispensed weak and strong opioids from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. According to findings, the 12-month prevalence of opioid use among patients with OA was 23.7%, which was twice as high vs individuals without knee or hip OA. Overall, they noted that every fourth patient with knee or hip OA has opioids dispensed over 1 year, and 12% of incident opioid dispensations are attributable to OA.