Meperidine Distribution Trends
The overwhelming majority — 48.3 percentage points — of the total meperidine reduction occurred between 2019 and 2020 alone. On a per-capita basis, mean meperidine distribution declined 62.2% and the median declined 68.3% between 2019 and…
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The overwhelming majority — 48.3 percentage points — of the total meperidine reduction occurred between 2019 and 2020 alone. On a per-capita basis, mean meperidine distribution declined 62.2% and the median declined 68.3% between 2019 and 2023. Total US meperidine distribution fell from 292,694,240 mg in 2019 to 123,433,330 mg in 2023, a reduction of 57.8%. Post-2020 stagnation in meperidine decline is a novel and concerning finding, as prior research documented a fairly uniform decline from 2000 to 2019. Possible contributors to the post-2020 plateau include disruption of opioid stewardship programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, formulary inertia, and cost pressures.