Drug Overdose

In 2020, Black individuals had the largest increase in overdose mortality rates for the first time compared with any other ethnic or racial group since 1999, according to a research letter published in in JAMA Psychiatry.

An increase in take-home doses of opioid agonist therapy early in the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with lower rates of treatment interruption and did not increase the risk for opioid-related overdoses, according to a recent study.

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a drop in hospitalization for self-harm or overdose in adolescents and young adults compared to the 2 years before, according to a population-based cohort study published in JAMA Network Open.

Opioid overdose deaths among older adults increased significantly from 1999 to 2019, especially among non-Hispanic Black men, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open.

Biden administration officials recently discussed several initiatives within a multi-pronged, multi-agency collaboration that they said are needed to address the overdose epidemic.

In light of recent CDC data showing more than 100,000 U.S. deaths from overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021, the American Psychiatric Association reviewed effective substance abuse treatments and called for efforts to intervene.

The FDA has approved Zimhi, a high-dose naloxone product that is administered through a prefilled syringe to counteract potentially fatal opioid overdoses, the agency and the drug’s manufacturer announced.

Healio Psychiatry has compiled a list of its five most-viewed stories in September.

In the United States, overdose deaths that involved psychostimulants other than cocaine —mostly methamphetamine — rose 180% in the last 5 full years before the COVID-19 pandemic, a cross-sectional analysis of nationwide data showed.

The AMA released a report that showed a 44.4% decrease in opioid prescribing in the U.S. in the past 10 years, despite the country experiencing significant increases in drug-related overdoses and deaths.