Opioid Overdose Survivors More Likely To Die of Other Causes Within a Year

Patients who live through an opioid overdose seem to be more likely to die of another cause within a year, an AHRQ-funded study has found. The study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that patients who had suffered a nonfatal opioid overdose in the previous year died at approximately 24 times the rate of the general population. Causes of death included drug use-associated diseases, cancer, HIV, viral hepatitis and suicide. The authors concluded that these findings point to the importance of coordinating medical, substance use and mental health management after an opioid overdose. In the study, researchers examined more than 76,000 records of Medicaid patients from 2001 to 2007 who had been treated for a nonfatal opioid overdose, then compared those records with National Death Index records to identify patients who had died within a year after being treated for the overdose. Access the abstract.

2018 Jun 20. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.1471. [Epub ahead of print]

Causes of Death After Nonfatal Opioid Overdose.

Olfson M1, Crystal S2, Wall M1, Wang S1, Liu SM1, Blanco C1,3.

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Abstract

IMPORTANCE:

A recent increase in patients presenting with nonfatal opioid overdoses has focused clinical attention on characterizing their risks of premature mortality.

OBJECTIVE:

To describe all-cause mortality rates, selected cause-specific mortality rates, and standardized mortality rate ratios (SMRs) of adults during their first year after nonfatal opioid overdose.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:

This US national longitudinal study assesses a cohort of patients aged 18 to 64 years who were Medicaid beneficiaries and experienced nonfatal opioid overdoses. The Medicaid data set included the years 2001 through 2007. Death record information was obtained from the National Death Index. Data analysis occurred from October 2017 to January 2018.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES:

Crude mortality rates per 100 000 person-years were determined in the first year after nonfatal opioid overdose. Standardized mortality rate ratios (SMR) were estimated for all-cause and selected cause-specific mortality standardized to the general population with respect to age, sex, and race/ethnicity.

RESULTS:

The primary cohort included 76 325 adults and 66 736 person-years of follow-up. During the first year after nonfatal opioid overdose, there were 5194 deaths, the crude death rate was 778.3 per 10 000 person-years, and the all-cause SMR was 24.2 (95% CI, 23.6-24.9). The most common immediate causes of death were substance use-associated diseases (26.2%), diseases of the circulatory system (13.2%), and cancer (10.3%). For every cause examined, SMRs were significantly elevated, especially with respect to drug use-associated diseases (SMR, 132.1; 95% CI, 125.6-140.0), HIV (SMR, 45.9; 95% CI, 39.5-53.0), chronic respiratory diseases (SMR, 41.1; 95% CI, 36.0-46.8), viral hepatitis (SMR, 30.6; 95% CI, 22.9-40.2), and suicide (SMR, 25.9; 95% CI, 22.6-29.6), particularly including suicide among females (SMR, 47.9; 95% CI, 39.8-52.3).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:

In a US national cohort of adults who had experienced a nonfatal opioid overdose, a marked excess of deaths was attributable to a wide range of substance use-associated, mental health, and medical conditions, underscoring the importance of closely coordinating the substance use, mental health, and medical care of this patient population.