26 this month. I’m going to call out paper #3 because I think it’s super important. 1) High buprenorphine-related mortality is persistent in Finland. Kriikku P, Häkkinen M, Ojanperä I. Forensic Sci Int. 2018 Aug 17;291:76-82. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.08.010. [Epub ahead of print] Comments: This is an interesting topic. Finland seems to have a lot ofRead More
PubMed Update July 2018
37 papers for July. Ok – now I’m up to date! 1)Using routinely collected data to understand and predict adverse outcomes in opioid agonist treatment: Protocol for the Opioid Agonist Treatment Safety (OATS) Study. Larney S, Hickman M, Fiellin DA, Dobbins T, Nielsen S, Jones NR, Mattick RP, Ali R, Degenhardt L. BMJ Open.Read More
PubMed Update February 2018
36 papers this month. I will add that this is a PubMed literature review – we cover published articles. This month, unfortunately, an unpublished paper of very poor methodology with multiple major errors got a lot of attention. I won’t provide the link here so as to avoid drawing further attention to the paper. ItRead More
PubMed Update December 2017 – January 2018
57 for the past two months, from new ways to look at medical examiner data to an unfortunate complication of resuscitation. The fentanyl papers are at the end, as are a couple papers each addressing safe consumption spaces and opioid reformulations. 1) Wearable Biosensors to Evaluate Recurrent Opioid Toxicity After Naloxone Administration: A Hilbert Transform Approach.Read More
PubMed Update November 2017
In honor of the impending New Year … we have 38 papers for you in just one month! There’s some sophisticated work here – innovative epidemiology, interventions, and reviews of overdose. We’ve come a long way from the 1990s, but clearly not quickly enough for the dynamic urgency of this issue. 1) Safety andRead More
PubMed Update September-October 2017
51 in two months, continuing to run solid. 1) Using Group Visits to Provide Overdose Education and Distribute Naloxone to High-Risk Primary Care Patients. Bair MJ. Pain Med. 2017 Nov 1. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnx279. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available. Comment: Described in the title, this is a commentary on a quasi-experimental study in Veterans’ Administration clinics. Read More
PubMed Update February-May 2017
Sorry this took so long. This was partly due to my schedule and partly because we’ve been in a process of transitioning to PrescribeToPrevent. You can thank those unnamed persons who reached out to me asking when the next installment was coming for avoiding a much greater delay! 108 articles in four months. TheRead More
PubMed Update March 2016
23 this month. 1) Are take-home naloxone programmes effective? Systematic review utilizing application of the Bradford Hill criteria. McDonald R, Strang J. Addiction. 2016 Mar 30. doi: 10.1111/add.13326. [Epub ahead of print] Review. Comments: Take-home naloxone meets all Bradford Hill criteria for causality in reducing opioid overdose mortality. Incidence of fatality among overdoses in the setting ofRead More
PubMed Update November 2015 – January 2016
We have 35 articles for your viewing this time, with apologies for the delay in getting this out. Thanks to Traci Green for offering to help out and for reviewing this post. 1) Management of patients with issues related to opioid safety, efficacy and/or misuse: a case series from an integrated, interdisciplinary clinic. Becker WC, MerlinRead More
PubMed Update February 2014
8 papers today, essentially about naloxone and heroin. 1) Risk of anaphylaxis in opioid dependent persons: effects of heroin versus substitution substance. Maurer U, Kager C, Fellinger C, Loader D, Pollesböck A, Spitzer B, Jarisch R. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2014 Feb 27;9(1):12. [Epub ahead of print] Comment: Seeking alternative explanations for “overdose”, theRead More