Drug Overdose

Opioid overdose death rates increased among non-Hispanic Black individuals between 2018 and 2019, despite having leveled off overall, according to study results published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Greater use of opioid alternatives for the treatment of pain in patients with CVD and expanded public training in the recognition and treatment of overdose may stem the contemporary rise in opioid-related deaths, a committee wrote.

Using hearts from donors who died from a drug overdose does not reduce transplant recipient survival, so making more of those hearts available could decrease heart transplant wait times, according to two studies.

The U.S. is not the only country experiencing a rise in opioid-related deaths in the era of COVID-19.

Overdose-related cardiac arrests increased significantly in 2020 in the United States, particularly among “Latinx” and Black individuals, according to results of a cohort study published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Concomitant treatment with non-benzodiazepines, or Z-drugs, was linked to a significant relative increase in overdose risk in patients receiving prescription opioids, according to study results published in American Journal of Psychiatry.

The FDA today announced approval of a higher dose naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray product for opioid overdose treatment.

In an effort to reduce overdose deaths, the CDC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced that federal funds can now be used to buy rapid fentanyl test strips.

A White House official said Thursday that 88,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses during the 12-month period that ended in August.

Methamphetamine overdose death rates in the United States in recent years differed by sex, race and ethnicity, according to results of a research letter published in JAMA Psychiatry.