51 in two months, continuing to run solid.
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.
Spelman JF, Peglow S, Schwartz AR, Burgo-Black L, McNamara K, Becker WC.
Pain Med. 2017 Oct 16. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnx243. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: The paper discussed in the above commentary.
Roux P, Rojas Castro D, Ndiaye K, Briand Madrid L, Laporte V, Mora M, Maradan G, Morel S, Spire B, Carrieri P.
Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2017 Nov 2;12(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s13011-017-0131-4.
Comment: If oral therapy did not work, some people would accept supervised IV buprenorphine treatment.
4) Deaths Involving Fentanyl, Fentanyl Analogs, and U-47700 – 10 States, July-December 2016.
O’Donnell JK, Halpin J, Mattson CL, Goldberger BA, Gladden RM.
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017 Nov 3;66(43):1197-1202. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6643e1.
Comment: >10% of deaths involved fentanyl and analogues.
Mosher H, Zhou Y, Thurman AL, Sarrazin MV, Ohl ME.
J Hosp Med. 2017 Nov;12(11):925-929. doi: 10.12788/jhm.2793.
Comment: Can’t access full article, but this seems to compare overdose hospitalizations between urban and rural sites and urban and rural residents.
6) Is systematic training in opioid overdose prevention effective?
Espelt A, Bosque-Prous M, Folch C, Sarasa-Renedo A, Majó X, Casabona J, Brugal MT; REDAN Group.
PLoS One. 2017 Oct 31;12(10):e0186833. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186833. eCollection 2017.
Comment: Yes. Improved knowledge and a possible slight decline in regional fatal overdoses.
7) Heroin Contaminated with Fentanyl Dramatically Enhances Brain Hypoxia and Induces Brain Hypothermia.
Solis E Jr, Cameron-Burr KT, Kiyatkin EA.
eNeuro. 2017 Oct 30;4(5). pii: ENEURO.0323-17.2017. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0323-17.2017. eCollection 2017 Sep-Oct.
Comment: As the title says.
Peckham AM, Niculete ME, Steinberg H, Boggs DL.
J Public Health Manag Pract. 2017 Oct 27. doi: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000000668. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Providers still need individualized training for this.
Lewis CR, Vo HT, Fishman M.
Subst Abuse Rehabil. 2017 Oct 11;8:79-95. doi: 10.2147/SAR.S101700. eCollection 2017. Review.
Comment: Progress has been made but we have a long way to go.
Coffin PO, Santos GM, Matheson T, Behar E, Rowe C, Rubin T, Silvis J, Vittinghoff E.
PLoS One. 2017 Oct 19;12(10):e0183354. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183354. eCollection 2017.
Comment: Talking about overdose regularly can reduce overdose events…
Mack KA, Jones CM, Ballesteros MF.
MMWR Surveill Summ. 2017 Oct 20;66(19):1-12. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.ss6619a1.
Comment: Not as simple as we’ve been told.
12) The US Opioid Crisis: Current Federal and State Legal Issues.
Soelberg CD, Brown RE Jr, Du Vivier D, Meyer JE, Ramachandran BK.
Anesth Analg. 2017 Nov;125(5):1675-1681. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000002403. Review.
Comment: Legal and policy approaches.
Ho J, DeBeck K, Milloy MJ, Dong H, Wood E, Kerr T, Hayashi K.
Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2017 Oct 19:1-10. doi: 10.1080/00952990.2017.1376678. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: As title says, and in some contrast to the U.S. experience in which prescription opioid availability began to decline after 2010.
14) Imaging Sex Differences in Regional Brain Metabolism during Acute Opioid Withdrawal.
Santoro GC, Carrion J, Dewey SL.
J Alcohol Drug Depend. 2017 Apr;5(2). pii: 262. doi: 10.4172/2329-6488.1000262. Epub 2017 Apr 6.
Comment: Differences between men and women may help to explain different responsiveness to opioid use disorder treatment.
15) Ventricular fibrillation due to overdose of loperamide, the “poor man’s methadone”.
Salama A, Levin Y, Jha P, Alweis R.
J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect. 2017 Sep 19;7(4):222-226. doi: 10.1080/20009666.2017.1351290. eCollection 2017 Oct.
Comment: Yikes.
Orsini J, Din N, Elahi E, Gomez A, Rajayer S, Malik R, Jean E.
J Community Hosp Intern Med Perspect. 2017 Sep 19;7(4):202-207. doi: 10.1080/20009666.2017.1356189. eCollection 2017 Oct.
Comment: This was a study of ICU admissions for acute drug poisoning in a single facility in NYC over 6 months from late 2015 to early 2016. The 65 patients accounted for 19% of all ICU admissions during the period; 8 signed out AMA while in the ICU and 5 patients died. The most common drugs positive on serumor urine testing were alcohol (35%), opioids (33%), cocaine (24%), methadone (22%), benzodiazepines (18%), and marijuana (16%). Among the 35% with negative screens, causes of the admission including tylenol, ethylene gycol, isopropyl alcohol, bleach, NSAIDS, and antidepressants. Mean cost of ICU care was $16k.
I don’t see a report on length of stay or on disposition (i.e. did they go home, to skilled nursing, were they vegetative, etc.).
17) Naloxone Counseling for Harm Reduction and Patient Engagement.
Han JK, Hill LG, Koenig ME, Das N.
Fam Med. 2017 Oct;49(9):730-733.
Comment: Family health providers providing naloxone kits.
18) National trends and outcomes of cardiac arrest in opioid overdose.
Sakhuja A, Sztajnkrycer M, Vallabhajosyula S, Cheungpasitporn W, Patch R 3rd, Jentzer J.
Resuscitation. 2017 Oct 14;121:84-89. doi: 10.1016/j.resuscitation.2017.10.010. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Interesting. Mortality in the hospital for drug poisoning 1.5%: heroin overdose 4.4% (61.8% if arrived in cardiac arrest), prescription opioid overdose 2.3% (58.3% for cardiac arrest), non-opioid 1.2% (54.7% for cardiac arrest). Authors report increasing rate of cardiac arrest presentations for heroin overdose from 2000-2013, and most presentations are for prescription opioids. Trying to tease this apart is a bit tricky. Does this mean heroin overdoses are getting more dangerous? If the data went to 2015 or 2016 the answer would likely be yes, due to fentanyl, but earlier years didn’t see much of that so I don’t think this is explained by fentanyl. Were more heroin overdoses being managed in the field, either by lay persons or paramedics with more lenient transport policies, and thus not presenting to the hospital unless they had serious complications?
19) Three Cases of Fatal Acrylfentanyl Toxicity in the United States and a Review of Literature.
Butler DC, Shanks K, Behonick GS, Smith D, Presnell SE, Tormos LM.
J Anal Toxicol. 2017 Sep 28:1-6. doi: 10.1093/jat/bkx083. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Hard to detect.
Knipper E, Banta-Green CJ, Jimenez N.
Paediatr Anaesth. 2017 Nov;27(11):1070-1076. doi: 10.1111/pan.13225. Review.
Comment: Discussion of disordered opioid use by pediatric patients.
21) Pharmaceutical opioid use and harm in Australia: The need for proactive and preventative responses.
Larance B, Degenhardt L, Peacock A, Gisev N, Mattick R, Colledge S, Campbell G.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2017 Oct 12. doi: 10.1111/dar.12617. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Not much harm yet and interest in developing policies and practices to prevent them.
Gulec N, Lahey J, Suozzi JC, Sholl M, MacLean CD, Wolfson DL.
Prehosp Emerg Care. 2017 Oct 12:1-7. doi: 10.1080/10903127.2017.1371262. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: It’s a remarkably safe and straightforward drug.
23) Use of on-site detoxification services co-located with a supervised injection facility.
Gaddis A, Kennedy MC, Nosova E, Milloy MJ, Hayashi K, Wood E, Kerr T.
J Subst Abuse Treat. 2017 Nov;82:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2017.08.003. Epub 2017 Aug 8.
Comment: Insite has a detox service. 11% of Insite attendees utilized it in a 2 year period. A recent overdose roughly doubled the chances that a participant would access the service (adjusted odds ratio 1.90).
24) Acute eosinophilic pneumonia secondary to heroin inhalation.
Eyüpoğlu D, Ortaç Ersoy E, Rollas K, Topeli A.
Tuberk Toraks. 2017 Jun;65(2):154-156. doi: 10.5578/tt.10438.
Comment: Treated with steroids.
25) Patterns of substance use and mortality risk in a cohort of “hard-to-reach” polysubstance users.
Gjersing L, Bretteville-Jensen AL.
Addiction. 2017 Oct 7. doi: 10.1111/add.14053. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: 6% reported an overdose in the preceding 30 days. Crude mortality was 2.52/100py, 57% of which was due to overdose. A past-four week overdose quadrupled the risk of death and agonist treatment halved mortality. Using a latent class analysis among those not in agonist treatment, polysubstance injectors and somewhat frequent injectors were the most likely to die.
26) Combatting the opioid epidemic: Baltimore’s experience and lessons learned.
Wen LS, Warren KE.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2017 Jul 19:1-5. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdx093. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Summary of actions in Baltimore
Dahlem CHG, King L, Anderson G, Marr A, Waddell JE, Scalera M.
Public Health Nurs. 2017 Oct 6. doi: 10.1111/phn.12365. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Description of naloxone use by law enforcement.
28) Opioid crisis at the Jersey Shore-special report.
Dudley LS, Konomos D, Robbins V, Qiu L, Bauter R, Merlin MA.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2017 Aug 31:1-6. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdx106. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Jersey Shore overdoses seen by advanced EMS. 312 cases. 212 got first naloxone by lay person, police, or other BLS provider. Of those 5.2% died. Of those who got first naloxone dose by paramedics, 19.3% died.
Griswold MK, Chai PR, Krotulski AJ, Friscia M, Chapman BP, Varma N, Boyer EW, Logan BK, Babu KM.
J Med Toxicol. 2017 Oct 2. doi: 10.1007/s13181-017-0632-6. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Oral fluid testing.
30) The Opioid Epidemic: Crisis and Solutions.
Skolnick P.
Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol. 2017 Oct 2. doi: 10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010617-052534. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Discussion of need for alternative pharmacotherapies for pain.
31) Take-home naloxone provision cuts opioid overdose deaths.
Thompson J.
Practitioner. 2016 Nov;260(1798):7. No abstract available.
Comment: Letter. Can’t access.
32) Fentanyl and the Evolving Opioid Epidemic: What Strategies Should Policy Makers Consider?
Barry CL.
Psychiatr Serv. 2017 Oct 2:appips201700235. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201700235. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Several harm reduction approaches discussed.
33) Who is Overdosing? An Updated Picture of Overdose Deaths From 2008 to 2015.
Eigner G, Henriksen B, Huynh P, Murphy D, Brubaker C, Sanders J, McMahan D.
Health Serv Res Manag Epidemiol. 2017 Sep 8;4:2333392817727424. doi: 10.1177/2333392817727424. eCollection 2017 Jan-Dec.
Comment: Opioid deaths in Allen County, Indiana.
34) Heroin-Related Compartment Syndrome: An Increasing Problem for Acute Care Surgeons.
Benns M, Miller K, Harbrecht B, Bozeman M, Nash N.
Am Surg. 2017 Sep 1;83(9):962-965.
Comment: Unable to access, but I assume this is in Kentucky. Heroin is now the second most common etiology for compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome is basically when there is so much swelling in a part of the body that blood can no longer flow to that region.
McClure FL, Niles JK, Kaufman HW, Gudin J.
J Addict Med. 2017 Sep 28. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000354. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Among people who were prescribed either an opioid or a benzodiazepine and who were urine tox tested, 25% had the other drug class – half of those cases were not prescribed the other class of drugs. 19% of specimens testing positive for prescribed opioids also had non-prescribed benzodiazepines and 15% of specimens testing positive for prescribed benzodiazepines also had non-prescribed opioids. These data are a bit confusing as many are presented as specimen data rather than patient data; clearly a person who is tested frequently is more likely to have non-prescribed use and results would be similar within-person.
36) The Curious (Dis)Connection between the Opioid Epidemic and Crime.
Szalavitz M, Rigg KK.
Subst Use Misuse. 2017 Sep 27:1-5. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2017.1376685. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: “That trend—towards viewing addiction as a medical, rather than a moral problem—has also been given a tremendous boost by the media focus on opioid addiction as a white problem.”
37) Community use of naloxone for opioid overdose.
Jauncey ME, Nielsen S.
Aust Prescr. 2017 Aug;40(4):137-140. doi: 10.18773/austprescr.2017.043. Epub 2017 Aug 1. Review. No abstract available.
Comment: Pharmacy review.
Spittal MJ, Forsyth S, Borschmann R, Young JT, Kinner SA.
Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2017 Sep 25:1-10. doi: 10.1017/S2045796017000506. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Use of opioids in the community more than doubles the risk of death on prison release.
Meade AM, Bird SM, Strang J, Pepple T, Nichols LL, Mascarenhas M, Choo L, Parmar MKB.
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2017 Sep 21. doi: 10.1111/dar.12592. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Feasibility of RCT in prison.
40) Opioid Overdose Outbreak – West Virginia, August 2016.
Massey J, Kilkenny M, Batdorf S, Sanders SK, Ellison D, Halpin J, Gladden RM, Bixler D, Haddy L, Gupta R.
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017 Sep 22;66(37):975-980. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6637a3.
Comment: 20 overdoses in 2 days in a town in West Virginia, lots of fentanyl products.
Chang DC, Klimas J, Wood E, Fairbairn N.
J Addict Med. 2017 Sep 19. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000359. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Are we still surprised by this? Detox is extremely dangerous.
Lacroix L, Thurgur L, Orkin AM, Perry JJ, Stiell IG.
CJEM. 2017 Sep 18:1-7. doi: 10.1017/cem.2017.390. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: 86% of ED docs were willing to prescribe naloxone. That’s substantial.
43) Advances in the delivery of buprenorphine for opioid dependence.
Rosenthal RN, Goradia VV.
Drug Des Devel Ther. 2017 Aug 28;11:2493-2505. doi: 10.2147/DDDT.S72543. eCollection 2017. Review.
Comment: Patches, injections, and implants, oh my.
Shipton EE, Shipton AJ, Williman JA, Shipton EA.
Pain Ther. 2017 Sep 8. doi: 10.1007/s40122-017-0080-7. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: A 33% increase in opioid death from 2001 to 2012 in New Zealand.
45) Treating Acute Pain in the Opiate-Dependent Patient.
Dever C.
J Trauma Nurs. 2017 Sep/Oct;24(5):292-299. doi: 10.1097/JTN.0000000000000309.
Comment: Per title, can’t access.
Aronson ID, Bennett A, Marsch LA, Bania TC.
Front Public Health. 2017 Aug 23;5:217. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2017.00217. eCollection 2017.
Comment: Combining HIV, HCV, and overdose into a tablet.
Ickowicz S, Wood E, Dong H, Nguyen P, Small W, Kerr T, Montaner JSG, Milloy MJ.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017 Aug 10;180:33-38. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.07.016. [Epub ahead of print]
Comment: Public injecting was associated with detectable HIV viral load, incarceration, and daily injection. Overdose was more likely in bivariate but not adjusted analyses.
O’Donnell JK, Gladden RM, Seth P.
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017 Sep 1;66(34):897-903. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6634a2.
Comment: Mortality increased throughout the nation, least in the West and most in the Northeast
49) Overdose Deaths Related to Fentanyl and Its Analogs – Ohio, January-February 2017.
Daniulaityte R, Juhascik MP, Strayer KE, Sizemore IE, Harshbarger KE, Antonides HM, Carlson RR.
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2017 Sep 1;66(34):904-908. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6634a3.
Comment: Fentanyl and related products overtaking
50) Medication-Assisted Treatment and Opioid Use Before and After Overdose in Pennsylvania Medicaid.
Frazier W, Cochran G, Lo-Ciganic WH, Gellad WF, Gordon AJ, Chang CH, Donohue JM.
JAMA. 2017 Aug 22;318(8):750-752. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.7818. No abstract available.
Comment: Slight increase in pharmacotherapy for opioid use disorder after overdose event
Nolan S, Buxton J, Dobrer S, Dong H, Hayashi K, Milloy MJ, Kerr T, Montaner J, Wood E.
Public Health Rep. 2017 Sep/Oct;132(5):563-569. doi: 10.1177/0033354917717230. Epub 2017 Jul 27.
Comment: 22% of people who inject drugs had take-home naloxone.