Drug Overdose

Medicare beneficiaries using telehealth services for opioid use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic had a 33% lower risk for fatal drug overdose compared with beneficiaries receiving no treatment, findings in JAMA Psychiatry showed.

The FDA has granted de novo authorization for an opioid overdose-related prevention and alert system , according to a press release from the manufacturer.

From 2002 to 2021, the rate of drug overdose death among people aged 65 years or older quadrupled, according to data published in JAMA Psychiatry.

The FDA on Wednesday approved 4 mg Narcan nasal spray for over-the-counter use as an emergency treatment for opioid overdose. It is the first naloxone product to be available without a prescription.

There were more drug overdose deaths in 2020 than anticipated based on trends from 2013 to 2019, with more fatalities among Black people compared with white people, according to findings published in PLOS Global Public Health.

Participation in an outreach program following a nonfatal opioid overdose was associated with lower risk for later overdose death, according to data published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Current smoking, use of sedative hypnotics and dyspnea increased the risk for death by suicide or drug overdose among adults with a smoking history with or without COPD, according to study results published in CHEST.

The proportion of buprenorphine-involved overdose deaths did not significantly increase after prescribing flexibilities were introduced in the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to recent findings published in JAMA Network Open.

Clinicians who were notified after one of their patients fatally overdosed prescribed fewer opioids for up to 1 year compared with those who were not notified, according to results of a randomized clinical trial.

Deaths involving fentanyl in people aged 10 to 19 years increased by 182% from 2019 to 2021, among other findings reported in a study published in MMWR.