Receipt of Opioid Use Disorder Treatments Prior to Fatal Overdoses and Comparison to No Treatment in Connecticut, 2016-17

Original research
by
Heimer, Robert et al

Release Date

2023

Geography

USA

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

Yes

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Yes

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

To determine the relative risk of death following exposure to treatments for OUD compared to no treatment.

Findings/Key points

Exposure to non-MOUD treatments provided no protection against fatal opioid poisoning whereas the relative risk was reduced following exposures to MOUD treatment, even if treatment was not continued. Population level efforts to reduce opioid overdose deaths need to focus on expanding access to agonist-based MOUD treatments and are unlikely to succeed if access to non-MOUD treatments is made more available.

Design/methods

Retrospective cohort study

Keywords

Mortality
Overdose
About PWUD
Substitution/OAT