Illicit opioid use

PH343 / 686

Lewer D, Padmanathan P, Arfeen A, Denaxas S, Forbes H, Gonzalez-Izquierdo A, Hickman M

Oct 6, 2021

Clinical-Coded Phenotype

  1. Overview

    Phenotype Type
    Lifestyle risk factor
    Sex
    Both
    Valid Event Date Range
    01/03/2020-05/04/2020
    Coding System
    Med codesPROD codes
    Data Sources
    CPRD GOLD
    CPRD Aurum
    Collections
    Phenotype Library
    Tags
    No data
    Ontology
    No data

  2. Definition

    We selected patients by identifying product codes indicating a prescription of OAT and clinical codes indicating a history of illicit opioid use, such as ‘heroin dependence’ (see extended data for a full code list23). We prioritised specificity over sensitivity, aiming to use codes that are only applied to the target population.

    We used keywords to search CPRD dictionaries to find Read and SNOMED clinical codes that may illicit opioid use (methadone; buprenorphine; abus; addict; ependen; drug user; heroin; inject; misus*; opiate; opioid; overdose). Our search identified 1,098 Read codes and 1,800 SNOMED codes. Two authors (DL and PP)

    screened the codes for relevance, with conflicts resolved through discussion.

    Where codes were likely to indicate illicit opioid use, but did not specifically mention opioids, we classified them as ‘probable’. Some clinical codes described prescriptions, tests or adverse reactions relating to methadone and buprenorphine.

  3. Implementation

    Phenoflow ID

    Please see the PhenoFLOW website here for more information on workflow-based Phenotypes.

    PhenoFLOW Reference: https://kclhi.org/phenoflow/workflows/github.com/phenoflow/Illicit-opioid-use---62dbabe0-1818-11ef-9de4-4d4ea830ad16/blob/read-potential-cases-fhir/Illicit-opioid-use.cwl

    Implementation

    No data

  4. Clinical Codelist

  5. Publication

    Related publications

    • Lewer D, Padmanathan P, Qummer ul Arfeen M et al. Healthcare use by people who use illicit opioids (HUPIO): development of a cohort based on electronic primary care records in England [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]. Wellcome Open Res 2020, 5:282. 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16431.1

      (DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16431.1)

    Citation Example

    Lewer D, Padmanathan P, Arfeen A, Denaxas S, Forbes H, Gonzalez-Izquierdo A, Hickman M. PH343 / 686 - Illicit opioid use. Phenotype Library [Online]. 06 October 2021. Available from: http://phenotypes.healthdatagateway.org/phenotypes/PH343/version/686/detail/. [Accessed 27 February 2026]

  6. API

    To Export Phenotype Details:

    FormatAPI
    JSON site_root/api/v1/phenotypes/PH343/version/686/detail/?format=json
    R Package

    # Download here

    library(ConceptLibraryClient)


    # Connect to API

    client = ConceptLibraryClient::Connection$new(public=TRUE)


    # Get details of Phenotype

    phenotype_details = client$phenotypes$get_detail(
     'PH343',
     version_id=686
    )

    Py Package

    # Download here

    from pyconceptlibraryclient import Client


    # Connect to API

    client = Client(public=True)


    # Get details of Phenotype

    phenotype_detail = client.phenotypes.get_detail(
     'PH343',
     version_id=686
    )

    To Export Phenotype Code List:

    FormatAPI
    JSON site_root/api/v1/phenotypes/PH343/version/686/export/codes/?format=json
    R Package

    # Download here

    library(ConceptLibraryClient)


    # Connect to API

    client = ConceptLibraryClient::Connection$new(public=TRUE)


    # Get codelist of Phenotype

    phenotype_codelist = client$phenotypes$get_codelist(
     'PH343',
     version_id=686
    )

    Py Package

    # Download here

    from pyconceptlibraryclient import Client


    # Connect to API

    client = Client(public=True)


    # Get codelist of Phenotype

    phenotype_codelist = client.phenotypes.get_codelist(
     'PH343',
     version_id=686
    )

  7. Version History

    Version IDNameOwnerPublish date
    Illicit opioid use ieuan.scanlon2021-10-06 16:13