Lots of papers over the past 8 weeks …
Mortality Among Young Injection Drug Users in San Francisco: A 10-Year Follow-up of the UFO Study.
Evans JL, Tsui JI, Hahn JA, Davidson PJ, Lum PJ, Page K.
Am J Epidemiol. 2012 Jan 6.
Comments: Thought I’d start with the best one this time, an excellent and desperately needed analysis that includes some estimates on mortality rates in one of the few prospective cohorts left.
Comparative analysis of pathological and toxicological features of opiate overdose and non-overdose fatalities.
Soravisut N, Rattanasalee P, Junkuy A, Thampitak S, Sribanditmongkol P.
J Med Assoc Thai. 2011 Dec;94(12):1540-6.
Comment: An interesting analysis of medical examiner cases in Chiang Mai. Interesting that tourists represented a growing proportion of cases over time.
Overdose deaths and Vancouver’s supervised injection facility.
Christian G, Pike G, Santamaria J, Reece S, DuPont R, Mangham C.
Lancet. 2012 Jan 14;379(9811):117; author reply 118-9. No abstract available.Comment: An interesting critique of the seminal paper on the overdose fatality reduction associated with Vancouver’s supervised injection facility. The authors’ response appears to effectively belie the critique.
“Foam Cone” exuding from the mouth and nostrils following heroin overdose.
Dinis-Oliveira RJ, Santos A, Magalhães T.
Toxicol Mech Methods. 2012 Feb;22(2):159-60.Comment: I’m not able to access. Anyone?
CDC Grand Rounds: Prescription Drug Overdoses – a U.S. Epidemic.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2012 Jan 13;61:10-3.Comment: This is so watered down I’m not sure of the message.
Offer of a quick fix.
Gould M.
Nurs Stand. 2011 Nov 16-22;26(11):24-5.
Comment: I was only able to access this through my university account, but it is a really interesting discussion of the British prison-release take-home naloxone trial. Scotland dropped out and began routine naloxone distribution for all released prisoners. The ethics around the trial are complex – many doubt the need for proof while others point to the frustrating history of treatments assumed to work and later proven to be harmful. While it is true that similar interventions for other populations would not require proof for wide dissemination, broad application of naloxone distribution will be limited by the lack of randomized trial data.
Correlates of non-medical prescription drug use among a cohort of injection drug users in Baltimore City.
Khosla N, Juon HS, Kirk GD, Astemborski J, Mehta SH.
Addict Behav. 2011 Dec;36(12):1282-7. Epub 2011 Aug 5.
Comment: Lots of prescription opioid use among injectors.
The increasing mortality burden of liver disease among opioid-dependent people: cohort study.
Gibson A, Randall D, Degenhardt L.Addiction. 2011 Dec;106(12):2186-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03575.x. Epub 2011 Oct 17.
Comment: This paper discusses another major interest of mine – hepatitis C. Hep C-related deaths have doubled since I began medical practice and will double again over the next 10-15 years. Broadened screening and improved access to treatment are desperately needed and will more than double the impact of the improved treatments we are already seeing.
A qualitative study exploring the reason for low dosage of methadone prescribed in the MMT clinics in China
Lin C, Detels R.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2011 Aug 1;117(1):45-9. Epub 2011 Feb 9.
Comments: Interesting discussion of problems with methadone dosing in China.
Drug related deaths in the Split-Dalmatia County 1997-2007.
Susnjara IM, Smoljanović A, Gojanović MD.
Coll Antropol. 2011 Sep;35(3):823-8.
Comments: Basic epidemiology of overdose deaths in Croatia that again emphasizes the role of polydrug use.
Suicide verdicts as opposed to accidental deaths in substance-related fatalities (UK, 2001-2007).
Vento AE, Schifano F, Corkery JM, Pompili M, Innamorati M, Girardi P, Ghodse H.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2011 Jul 1;35(5):1279-83.
Comments: Can’t access full article and I’m unclear how the results tie to conclusions from the abstract.
Can Nebulized Naloxone Be Used Safely and Effectively by Emergency Medical Services for Suspected Opioid Overdose?
Weber JM, Tataris KL, Hoffman JD, Aks SE, Mycyk MB.
Prehosp Emerg Care. 2011 Dec 22.
Comments: Nebulized naloxone is an interesting option for emergency medical services, although not widely available as a means of lay administration.