Equations to calculate milligrams of morphine equivalents for opioid analgesics
For overall project information see OpioidData.org
For MME calculations and equations click here to see the lab notebook
The intent of this analysis is to document different formulae used to calculate average daily MME, and examine conditions which may lead to bias.
For example, across 4 common formulae, for 2 simple prescriptions dispensed to the same patient on the same day for the same active ingredient, the following values of 30-day average daily MME were observed:
- 76 MME/day
- 94 MME/day
- 94 MME/day
- 53 MME/day
So, is this a "high dose" average daily MME by the arbitrary 90 MME/day standard?
The arithmetic details of how average daily MME is calculated can have a tremendous impact on interpretation. Yet, almost no publications include an explicit formula that would allow the results to be replicated.