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Published on: August 4, 2022
Non-fatal overdose in the 12 months following treatment for substance use disorders
Peter C Britton1, James D Wines, Kenneth R Conner
1Center of Excellence, Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, 400 Fort Hill Avenue, Canandaigua, NY 14424, USA. peter.britton@va.gov
Background:
Overdose (OD) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity for individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs), and there are limited prospective data on OD during the months following treatment for SUDs.
Methods:
Variables associated with an OD in the 12 months after leaving an initial treatment episode were examined in an analysis of the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcomes Study (DATOS), a longitudinal naturalistic multisite study. Participants included 2966 patients with one or more SUDs. Non-fatal OD was ascertained by a positive response to "In the past 12 months, have you overdosed on drugs?" Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify variables associated with OD.
Results:
By 12 months, 93 (3.1%) participants reported one or more ODs. Variables associated with OD were lifetime history of OD, injection drug use (IDU), male sex, greater pain, and history of sexual abuse.
Conclusions:
OD-risk appears to be increased by IDU, lifetime OD, sexual abuse history, and pain. The latter finding is novel for a prospective report and requires further study.
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