Self-prescription of opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and other psychotropic medications among physicians in South Korea

Abstract

Objective: Little is known about the actual practice of self-prescription among physicians, especially with regard to potentially habit-forming drugs. This study was conducted to provide a description of self-prescription of opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and other psychotropic medications among all physicians in South Korea. Methods: The self-prescription data on physicians from 2020 to 2023 were obtained from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The prevalence of self-prescription and the average number of pills of self-prescribed potentially habit-forming drugs were presented in comparison with the prescription of these drugs among the general population. Results: The total number of practicing physicians in Korea ranged from 110,492 in 2020 to 118,951 in 2023. About seven percent of practicing physicians self-prescribed opioids, sedative-hypnotics, or other potentially habit-forming drugs, which was less than one fifth the proportion of prescription of these types of drugs among the general population. Zolpidem was the most commonly self-prescribed medication, with other sedatives, anxiolytics, and appetite suppressants also being frequently self-prescribed. Although the prevalence of self-prescription among physicians was lower than the prevalence of similar prescriptions in the general population, the number of pills of these medications per physician who self-prescribed was higher than that prescribed in the general population. Conclusions: Despite lower prevalence of self-prescription of opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and other potentially habit-forming drugs compared to prescriptions of these medications given out to the general population, the higher number of units of these self-prescribed drugs compared to prescriptions among the general population suggests that self-prescribing could be associated with utilization of more potentially habit-forming drugs than necessary, at least for some physicians. If these results are confirmed, closer monitoring of such self-prescribing habits among physicians in South Korea may be needed.