Fentanyl withdrawal: Understanding symptom severity and exploring the role of body mass index on withdrawal symptoms and clearance.

Addiction

Division on Substance Use Disorders, Department of Psychiatry and New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.

Published: April 2023

AI Article Synopsis

  • Fentanyl, a potent opioid increasingly mixed with other drugs, is linked to rising overdose rates and impacts treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD).
  • A study involving 150 participants with OUD assessed the effect of body mass index (BMI) on fentanyl withdrawal and clearance during a 10-day inpatient treatment period.
  • Results showed that while fentanyl status at admission didn't significantly correlate with withdrawal symptom scores, participants with a higher BMI had greater odds of testing positive for fentanyl and reported worse withdrawal symptoms.

Article Abstract

Background And Aims: Fentanyl is a highly lipophilic mu opioid receptor agonist, increasingly found in heroin and other drug supplies, that is contributing to marked increases in opioid-related overdose and may be complicating treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). This study aimed to measure the influence of body mass index (BMI) on fentanyl withdrawal and clearance.

Design, Setting, Participants: This secondary analysis, from a 10-day inpatient study on the safety and efficacy of sublingual dexmedetomidine for opioid withdrawal, includes participants with OUD (n = 150) recruited from three sites in New York, New Jersey and Florida, who were maintained on oral morphine (30 mg four times per day) for 5 days before starting study medication. Most participants (n = 118) tested positive for fentanyl on admission to the inpatient unit.

Measurements: Urine toxicology and opioid withdrawal symptoms [Clinical Opioid Withdrawal Scale (COWS) and Short Opiate Withdrawal Scale (SOWS)] were assessed daily. The present analysis includes data on opioid withdrawal from days 1-5 of stabilization and urine toxicology data from days 1-10.

Findings: Fentanyl status at admission was not significantly associated with COWS or SOWS scores after adjusting for sex, site and polysubstance use. Participants classified as overweight or obese (n = 66) had significantly higher odds of testing positive for fentanyl across days 1-10 [odds ratio (OR) = 1.65; P < 0.01] and higher SOWS maximum scores across morphine stabilization (P < 0.05) compared to those with a healthy BMI (n = 68).

Conclusions: Among inpatients with opioid use disorder, fentanyl status does not appear to be statistically significantly associated with Clinical Opioid Withdrawal Scale and Short Opiate Withdrawal Scale mean and maximum scores. High body mass index status (overweight or obese) appears to be an important predictor of slower fentanyl clearance and higher Short Opiate Withdrawal Scale maximum scores across the inpatient period than lower body mass index status.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9992259PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.16100DOI Listing

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