Search

Background and Objectives Methods Results Conclusions and Scientific Significance History of nonfatal overdose (NFO) is common among people who use opioids, but little is known about opioid agonist treatment (OAT) outcomes for this high‐risk subpopulation. The objective of this study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of buprenorphine/naloxone and methadone on retention and suppression of opioid use among individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) and history of NFO.Secondary analysis of a pan‐Canadian pragmatic trial comparing flexible take‐home buprenorphine/naloxone and supervised methadone for people with OUD and history of NFO. Logistic regression was used to examine the impact of OAT on retention in the assigned or in any OAT at 24 weeks and analysis of covariance was used to examine the mean difference in opioid use between treatment arms.Of the 272 randomized participants, 155 (57%) reported at least one NFO at baseline. Retention rates in the assigned treatment were 17.7% in the buprenorphine/naloxone group and 18.4% in the methadone group (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.17–1.54). Rates of retention in any OAT were 28% and 20% in the buprenorphine/naloxone and methadone arms, respectively (AOR = 1.55, 95% CI: 0.65–3.78). There was an 11.9% adjusted mean difference in opioid‐free urine drug tests, favoring the buprenorphine/naloxone arm (95% CI: 3.5–20.3; p = .0057).Among adults with OUD and a history of overdose, overall retention rates were low but improved when retention in any treatment was considered. These findings highlight the importance of flexibility and patient‐centered care to improve retention and other treatment outcomes in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The overdose crisis in North America has prompted system-level efforts to restrict opioid prescribing for chronic pain. However, little is known about how discontinuing or tapering prescribed opioids for chronic pain shapes overdose risk, including possible differential effects among people with and without concurrent opioid use disorder (OUD). We examined associations between discontinuation and tapering of prescribed opioids and risk of overdose among people on long-term opioid therapy for pain, stratified by diagnosed OUD and prescribed opioid agonist therapy (OAT) status. Methods and findings For this retrospective cohort study, we used a 20% random sample of residents in the provincial health insurance client roster in British Columbia (BC), Canada, contained in the BC Provincial Overdose Cohort. The study sample included persons aged 14 to 74 years on long-term opioid therapy for pain ([greater than or equal to]90 days with [greater than or equal to]90% of days on therapy) between October 2014 and June 2018 (n = 14,037). At baseline, 7,256 (51.7%) persons were female, the median age was 55 years (quartile 1-3: 47-63), 227 (1.6%) persons had been diagnosed with OUD (in the past 3 years) and recently (i.e., in the past 90 days) been prescribed OAT, and 483 (3.4%) had been diagnosed with OUD but not recently prescribed OAT. The median follow-up duration per person was 3.7 years (quartile 1-3: 2.6-4.0). Marginal structural Cox regression with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to estimate the effect of prescribed opioid treatment for pain status (discontinuation versus tapered therapy versus continued therapy [reference]) on risk of overdose (fatal or nonfatal), stratified by the following groups: people without diagnosed OUD, people with diagnosed OUD receiving OAT, and people with diagnosed OUD not receiving OAT. In marginal structural models with IPTW adjusted for a range of demographic, prescription, comorbidity, and social-structural exposures, discontinuing opioids (i.e., [greater than or equal to]7-day gap[s] in therapy) was associated with increased overdose risk among people without OUD (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] = 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12, 1.83; p = 0.004), people with OUD not receiving OAT (AHR = 3.18; 95% CI 1.87, 5.40; p < 0.001), and people with OUD receiving OAT (AHR = 2.52; 95% CI 1.68, 3.78; p < 0.001). Opioid tapering (i.e., [greater than or equal to]2 sequential decreases of [greater than or equal to]5% in average daily morphine milligram equivalents) was associated with decreased overdose risk among people with OUD not receiving OAT (AHR = 0.31; 95% CI 0.14, 0.67; p = 0.003). The main study limitations are that the outcome measure did not capture overdose events that did not result in a healthcare encounter or death, medication dispensation may not reflect medication adherence, residual confounding may have influenced findings, and findings may not be generalizable to persons on opioid therapy in other settings. Conclusions Discontinuing prescribed opioids was associated with increased overdose risk, particularly among people with OUD. Prescribed opioid tapering was associated with reduced overdose risk among people with OUD not receiving OAT. These findings highlight the need to avoid abrupt discontinuation of opioids for pain. Enhanced guidance is needed to support prescribers in implementing opioid therapy tapering strategies with consideration of OUD and OAT status., Author(s): Mary Clare Kennedy 1,2,*, Alexis Crabtree 3, Seonaid Nolan 1,4, Wing Yin Mok 1, Zishan Cui 1,3, Mei Chong 5, Amanda Slaunwhite 3,5, Lianping Ti 1,4 Introduction Canada and [...]

ObjectiveAlthough the global burden of HIV infection among sex workers (SW) has been well recognized, HIV-related risks among sex workers who inject drugs (SW-IDU) have received less attention. We investigated the relationship between sex work and HIV incidence among people who inject drugs (IDU) in a Canadian setting.DesignProspective cohort study.MethodsUsing Kaplan-Meier methods and the extended Cox regression, we compared HIV incidence among SW-IDU and non-SW-IDU in Vancouver, Canada, after adjusting for potential confounders.ResultsBetween 1996 and 2012, 1647 participants were included in the study, including 512 (31.1%) IDU engaged in sex work. At 5 years the HIV cumulative incidence was higher among SW-IDU in comparison to other IDU (12 vs. 7%, P = 0.001). In unadjusted Cox regression analyses, HIV incidence among SW-IDU was also elevated [relative hazard: 1.69; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13-2.53]. However, in a multivariable analysis, sex work did not remain associated with HIV infection (adjusted relative hazard: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.45-1.20), with cocaine injection appearing to account for the elevated risk for HIV infection among SW-IDU.ConclusionThese data suggest that local SW-IDU have elevated rates of HIV infection. However, our exploration of risk factors among SW-IDU demonstrated that drug use patterns and environmental factors, rather than sexual risks, may explain the elevated HIV incidence among SW-IDU locally. Our findings highlight the need for social and structural interventions, including increased access to harm reduction programs and addiction treatment.

Significant gaps between scientific evidence and policy have resulted in growing interest in the role that knowledge translation (KT) can play in informing evidence-based policy. The Mitsampan Community Research Project, in consultation with the local community of people who inject drugs, developed a comprehensive KT strategy that aimed to translate research into policy related to HIV and illicit drug use in Bangkok, Thailand. Though barriers to KT activities were experienced, findings suggest that KT has the potential to facilitate dialogue and policy change. Further development and evaluation are needed to refine KT approaches and thereby bridge evidence and policy.

The authors discuss an article by Chandra and colleagues, published in the issue, which described the excess drug-related deaths attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. at a local scale. Topics include main factors proposed by Chandra and colleagues, a significant risk factor for illicit drug-related mortality, and the evolution of unregulated drug supply in British Columbia.

Drug checking services provide individuals who use drugs with the ability to test samples of their drugs for the presence of highly potent substances. However, there has been recent concern about whether the existing repertoire of point-of-care drug checking technologies, such as immunoassay strips and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), are adequate in identifying substances in the unregulated drug supply. Carfentanil and nitazene opioids, substances that are even more potent than fentanyl in vitro, have been found in the unregulated supply in North America and pose a challenge to our existing drug checking strategy. For example, etizolam has recently permeated the unregulated drug supply in North America, and has demonstrated the ability to evade point-of-care drug checking technologies. In response to the incessantly changing nature of the unregulated supply, we argue that drug checking technologies and service delivery models must continuously adapt alongside constantly changing drug markets. We provide two examples of emerging technologies, paper spray-mass spectrometry and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, which address many of the shortcomings of existing technologies. For both technologies, we discuss their feasibility, where they can be offered, their advantages, and how they address gaps in our existing technologies. We contend that these technologies, and other emerging technologies, can be integrated into a future approach to drug checking that flexibly uses different technologies and service delivery methods to adapt to changes in the drug supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]