Background: Over the past 20 years there has been a steady rise in mortality associated with opioid misuse in several Western countries. We aimed to examine trends in opioid-related mortality over a 20-year period in the Republic of Ireland.
Methods: Retrospective analysis of deaths attributed to ICD-9 codes 304.0 (morphine-type dependence) and E850.0 (accidental poisoning by opiates and related narcotics) in the Republic of Ireland between 1980 and 1999.
Results: The Republic of Ireland has seen a rapid increase in the number of opioid-related deaths over the 20-year period studied, from 0.01% of total deaths in 1980 to 0.15% in 1999. This is most marked in the younger age groups where, for example, it rose to 23% of 15-19 year old male deaths for 1997. The opioid-related mortality rate in the 15-44 years age range increased by nearly 14 times between 1980-1984 and 1995-1999. Over the whole period, 87% of opioid-related deaths were amongst males. Outside Dublin there has been a considerable increase in opioid-related mortality, nearly doubling the percentage of the total from 6% in the 1980s to 11% in the 1990s.
Conclusions: Opioid-related mortality is an increasing problem in the Republic of Ireland, as in other Western countries. Today, young people have a very low mortality rate, and hence this rapid increase may need specific targeted interventions. The spread of opioid-related mortality outside Dublin to rural and other urban areas will have implications for service planning and provision.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cki048 | DOI Listing |
Prehosp Emerg Care
January 2025
Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Emergency Medicine.
Objectives: Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) reduces morbidity and mortality for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). Recent administrative and legislative changes have made MOUD possible in the prehospital setting. We use an implementation science framework to outline the Reach of a fire department EMS-based Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) prehospital MOUD program.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf
January 2025
Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.
Purpose: Long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) has been shown to be associated with opioid overdose, but the definition of LTOT varies widely across studies. We use a rigorous LTOT definition to examine risk of opioid overdose by duration of treatment.
Methods: Data were from a large private health insurance provider in North Carolina linked to mortality records from 2006-2018.
Drug Alcohol Depend
February 2025
Neuropsychoimaging of Addictions and Related Conditions (NARC), Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.
Question: The opioid epidemic causes massive morbidity, and males have substantially greater overdose mortality rates than females. It is unclear whether there are sex-related disparities at different stages in the trajectory of opioid use disorders (OUD), from large samples in the community.
Goal: To determine sex disparities in non-medical opioid use (NMOU) at the end of treatment with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), using national data.
Cannabis
December 2024
Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.
Objective: Little is known about the population-level impact of recreational cannabis legalization on trends in opioid-related mortality. Increased access to cannabis due to legalization has been hypothesized to reduce opioid-related deaths because of the potential opioid-sparing effects of cannabis. The objective of this study was to examine the relations between national retail sales of recreational (non-medical) cannabis and opioid overdose deaths in the 5 years following legalization in Canada.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPublic Health Rep
January 2025
Department of Social Work, School of Social Sciences and Education, California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield, CA, USA.
To reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality, local coalitions on substance use prevention in Kern County, California, have sought to increase equitable engagement and reengagement with harm reduction supplies, including naloxone. Through a community-academic partnership and funding from the local managed health care plan in Kern County, we ordered, stocked, and monitored a temperature-controlled outdoor harm reduction vending machine (HRVM) in Bakersfield, California. We outlined the necessary steps for successful procurement and implementation of community-based HRVMs.
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