Methadone is a synthetic opioid, a pure agonist of the μ receptor. It is used for opioid maintenance therapy in heroin addiction. In recent years, Italian studies of incidence and prevalence have indicated an increase in the illegal sales of methadone and, consequently, an increase in deaths due to acute methadone intoxication as well. The present review is a prospective-observational study regarding epidemiological and toxicological analyses of methadone-related deaths recorded in the district of Genoa (Italy) from 2013 to 2018. The study includes a list of twenty-six people that have died from methadone toxicity: twenty-two males and four females. The concentration of methadone in the blood samples ranged from 181 to 4058.53 ng/mL, with an average of 964.29 ng/mL. Six subjects tested positive for methadone alone; twenty cases, however, presented drugs or substances in different concentrations in the blood samples. Illegal sales and consumption of methadone have a negative impact on the self-administration therapy of opioid addiction, inducing patients to increase their dosage or sell methadone in order to purchase illegal drugs. As shown in our study, this behaviour is associated with an increase in methadone-related deaths. Accordingly, careful monitoring of dosage administrated to patients is required in order to render the system safer.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2021.102149 | DOI Listing |
Ann Work Expo Health
March 2024
Public Health Program, School of Arts and Sciences, MCPHS University, 179 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, United States.
Objective: To investigate variation in drug poisoning mortality rates by drug type and occupation in Massachusetts.
Methods: Death certificates for deaths by drug poisonings occurring between 2010 and 2019 in Massachusetts were coded based on the decedent's occupation. Mortality rates and rate ratios (with all other occupations as the reference group) were calculated based on the occupation of the workers according to drug type.
Am J Forensic Med Pathol
June 2024
Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide.
Methadone is one of the most common medications currently prescribed for the treatment of opioid use disorders (OUDs). While methadone maintenance programs (MMPs) have been highly successful in the management and treatment of OUDs resulting in a reduced number of fatalities, the risk of overdose/toxicity remains. The current study was undertaken to analyze trends in overdoses attributed to prescribed and diverted methadone in South Australia (SA) between 2000 and 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Public Health
October 2023
Centre for Pharmaceutical Medicine Research, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Aim: This research aimed to describe how the characteristics of deaths following drug use changed during the COVID-19 pandemic in England, and how this can inform future strategy to support the health and social care of people who use drugs in future emergency scenarios.
Method: All deaths reported to the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths which occurred between January 2018 and December 2021 inclusive were extracted for analysis. Exponential smoothing models were constructed to determine any differences between forecasted vs.
Therapie
June 2024
Centre d'addictovigilance, service de pharmacologie clinique, hôpital de la Timone, Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille, Aix-Marseille université, institut de neurosciences des systèmes, Inserm UMR1106, 13005 Marseille, France.
Introduction: Due to the risk of overdoses increase especially with methadone, a reinforced monitoring has been set up by the French Addictovigilance Network following the first lockdown related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this context, we managed a specific study to analyze overdoses related to methadone in 2020 compared to 2019.
Material And Methods: We analyzed methadone-related overdoses which occurred in 2019 and 2020 from two sources: DRAMES program (deaths with toxicological analysis) and the French pharmacovigilance database (BNPV) (overdoses that did not lead to death).
Forensic Sci Int
March 2023
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, Middletown, NY, USA; Center for Pharmacy Innovation and Outcomes, Forty Fort, PA, USA. Electronic address:
Background: The US opioid overdose epidemic continues to escalate. The restrictions on methadone availability including take-home dosing were loosened during the COVID-19 pandemic although there have been concerns about the high street value of diverted methadone. This report examined how fatal overdoses involving methadone have changed over the past two-decades including during the pandemic.
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