Medscape (12/3, Anderson, Subscription Publication) reports, “Individuals with opioid use disorder are at high risk for overdose even after 18 months of treatment,” research indicated. In the study that “included 8996 adult Medicaid recipients who initiated buprenorphine therapy, continued on this treatment for a minimum of six months, and maintained Medicaid enrollment for at least six months after stopping their use of buprenorphine,” researchers “found that among patients who were treated with buprenorphine continuously for six to 18 months, about 5% were treated for an opioid overdose within six months of stopping the drug.” In all likelihood, “the true rate is…higher, inasmuch as the researchers were unable to take into account patients who overdosed but who did not present at the hospital for treatment.” The findings were published online Dec. 2 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Related Links:
— “Discontinuing Buprenorphine Too Soon ‘Life-Threatening’, “Pauline Anderson, Medscape, December 3, 2019