Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Addressing the Invisible and Older Faces of Canada’s Opioid Crisis

In response to the scarcity of Canadian data about opioid use and outcomes in older adults, the NIA obtained and analyzed data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) on opioid-related prescriptions, hospitalizations and emergency department visits from 2015 to 2020. Our analysis suggests that, despite variations between provinces and territories, there is a high rate of prescription opioid use among older Canadians. Between 2015 and 2020, prescription rates for older adults have tended to decline overall, particularly for some stronger formulations (i.e. fentanyl and oxycodone), and increased or remained stable for others (i.e. hydromorphone), while rates of some lower-strength opioids (i.e. codeine) have shown some decline but remain high. This report also provides some of the first published data on OUD-related hospital visits in older Canadians. The NIA’s analyses found that older Canadians experience very high rates of opioid-related harms — particularly adverse events from prescription medications. Combined with our findings on prescription rates, our analyses provide an important, high-level perspective on some of the impacts of the Canadian opioid crisis on older adults.