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The number of Victorians using opioid painkillers plummeted when COVID-19 restrictions first kicked in and picked back up after the state came out of a mammoth lockdown.
The findings have surprised Monash University researchers, who initially expected more people to rely on opioid painkillers during the height of pandemic restrictions.
"We hypothesised mental health conditions experienced during the pandemic may have coincided with higher rates of people using opioids, particularly because stress can exacerbate pain," lead study author and pharmacist Monica Jung said.
"However, those numbers actually fell, perhaps due to fewer face-to-face medical consultations, cancelled elective surgeries, and fewer incidents of physical trauma because most of us were isolating at home."
The drop-off could have also been down to Victorians being unable to get medical appointments and prescriptions during the pandemic, Ms Jung suggested.
The study compared two periods in 2020 - the first, the week starting March 23, during which stage-two restrictions kicked in and non-essential services were forced to shut their doors.
Lockdown restrictions came into effect in Victoria on March 30 and people were barred from leaving their homes except for essential reasons.
The second study period was the week starting October 26, 2020, just as Victoria emerged from a 111-day lockdown.
Other states and territories also saw a drop-off in the number of people getting opioid painkillers when COVID-19 restrictions kicked in during March 2020.
Victoria had the steepest decline, followed by NSW.
Three million Australians take opioid painkillers every year, according to previous Monash University research.
The country is the world's eighth-highest consumer of opioids and the new study will help inform strategic responses towards opioid use in the future, Ms Jung said.
The number of people who started long-term opioid therapy did not change during the study period in any part of Australia.
The researchers looked at all 10 opioids listed under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, including morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl.
The study has been published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
