However, the annual rate of barbiturate-related deaths increased from 0.07 per 100 000 population (13 deaths) in 2000–01 to 0.19 per 100 000 population (51 deaths) in 2016–17. In this period, the annual rate of barbiturate-related hospitalisations declined, as did the annual rate of barbiturate-related drug treatment episodes. The study, published in the MJA, identified 1250 barbiturate-related hospitalisations, 993 drug treatment episodes and 511 deaths during 2000–2018.
Although prescribing rates continue to decline, barbiturates are still prescribed, for example, in cases of refractory epilepsy. As a result, they’re no longer routinely prescribed in Australia.
However, high levels of accidental poisoning and risks of dependence led to supply restrictions.
Barbiturate use for intentional self-harm has increased in the past 20 years.īarbiturates were widely prescribed in the 1900s as anxiolytics, hypno-sedatives, and anticonvulsants. GPs have been warned that barbiturate misuse – seen by many as an historical problem that was left behind in the past century – has been found in research which contains a surprising revelation.
