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Background Physician prescribing behaviour has been described as a key driver of rising opioid prescriptions and long-term opioid use. However, the effect of prescribers requires interpretation within context. No studies have investigated the extent to which regions, practices, prescribers, vary in opioid prescribing by considering this hierarchy together, whilst accounting for case-mix. Objectives: (i)quantify and identify risk factors for the transition from new-users to long-term opioid users (ii) quantify variation of long-term use attributed to region, practice, prescriber, accounting for patient mix and chance variation. Methods We conducted a retrospective observational study between 2006-2017 using Clinical Practice Research Datalink. New users of opioids, ≥18 years, without cancer were identified. Long-term opioid use was defined as ≥ 3 opioid prescriptions within a 90-day period from index date, or ≥ 1 opioid prescription lasting at least 90-days in the first year. A multi-level random-effects logistic regression model was used to examine the association of patient characteristics with the odds of becoming a long-term opioid-user. To examine variation in opioid use among prescribers, GP-practices and region after adjusting for case-mix, we used a nested random-effect structure. A ‘high-risk’ region, prescriber or practice was defined as those where the entire adjusted 95% CI lay above population average. Results 1,968,742 new opioid users were included; 14.6% transitioned to long-term use. In the fully-adjusted model, factors associated with higher-odds of long-term use included high morphine-milligram equivalents (MME)/day at first prescription, older-age, deprivation, fibromyalgia, rheumatological conditions and prior surgery (Table 1). After adjustment for case-mix, the North-West, Yorkshire and South-West were found to be high-risk regions for long-term use. 103 practices (25.6%) and 540 prescribers (3.5%) were associated with a significantly higher risk of long-term use. The odds of becoming a long-term user for patients belonging to these prescribers reached up to > 3.5 times than the population average. Conclusion Prescribing factors, age, deprivation and conditions including fibromyalgia and rheumatological conditions were associated with higher odds of long-term opioid use. In the first UK study evaluating long-term opioid prescribing with patient-level characteristics adjustment, variation in regions, especially practices and prescribers were observed. Our findings support greater calls for action to reduce practice/prescriber variation by promoting safe practice in opioid-prescribing. Disclosures M. Jani: None. B. Birlie-Yimer: None. T. Sheppard: None. M. Lunt: None. W.G. Dixon: None.

Background Oral glucocorticoids (GC) are frequently prescribed to patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), however GC use is associated with several potential side effects. Hypertension is cited as a possible side effect, but few studies have specifically investigated GC-associated hypertension in patients with RA with conflicting results. The aim of this study was to determine whether GCs were associated with an increased risk of incident hypertension in a cohort of patients with RA. Methods A retrospective cohort of patients with incident RA and no hypertension at RA diagnosis were identified from UK primary care electronic health records (Clinical Practice Research Datalink). GC prescriptions were used to determine time-varying GC use and dose, categorised as: no use, >0-4.9 mg/day, 5-7.4 mg/day, 7.5-14.9 mg/day, ≥15mg/day. A 3-month risk attribution model was used where patients continued to remain at risk for 3 months after the end of prescriptions. Hypertension was identified if a patient had either: 1) 2 consecutive systolic blood pressure (BP) measurements >140mmHg within a year, 2) 2 consecutive diastolic BP measurements >90mmHg within a year or 3) antihypertensive prescriptions on at least two occasions and a Read code for hypertension. Unadjusted and adjusted Cox proportional hazards (PH) regression models were fitted to determine if there was an association between GC use and hypertension. Results There were 17,760 patients with incident RA and no hypertension. The cohort had a mean age of 56.3 ± 12.7 years and were predominantly female (68%). 7,421 (42%) were prescribed GCs during follow-up. There were 6,243 cases of incident hypertension. The Cox PH model indicated that recent GC use was associated with a 17% increased hazard of hypertension (hazard ratio: 1.17 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.24)). When categorised by dose, only doses above 7.5mg were significantly associated with hypertension (Table 1). Conclusion In this large cohort of patients with RA and without hypertension, recent GC use was associated with incident hypertension. Doses ≥7.5mg were associated with hypertension while the association with lower doses was inconclusive. Clinicians need to consider cardiovascular risk when prescribing GCs and ensure BP is regularly monitored. Disclosures R.E. Costello None. M. Jani None. B.B. Yimer None. W.G. Dixon None.