• Lewei Allison Lin, Chad M Brummett, Jennifer F Waljee, Michael J Englesbe, Vidhya Gunaseelan, and BohnertAmy S BASBDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.VA Center for Clinical Management Research (CCMR), VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network, Ann Arbor, MI, USA..
• Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. leweil@med.umich.edu.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2020 Feb 1; 35 (2): 420427420-427.

BackgroundPrescribing naloxone to patients is a key strategy to prevent opioid overdoses, but little is known about the reach of naloxone prescribing.ObjectiveDetermine patient factors associated with receiving naloxone and trends over time in patients with key overdose risk factors.DesignRetrospective observational study.ParticipantsUsing the Clinformatics DataMart, a US-wide health insurance claims dataset, we compared adults who received opioids and naloxone (opioid+naloxone) from January 2014 to June 2017 with adults who received opioids without naloxone (opioids only), matched on gender, age ± 5 years, month/year of opioid fill, and number of opioid claims.Main MeasuresKey patient-level opioid overdose risk factors included receipt of high-dosage opioids, concurrent benzodiazepines, history of opioid and other substance use disorders, and history of opioid overdose.ResultsWe included 3963 opioid+naloxone and 19,815 opioid only patients. Key factors associated with naloxone fills included high opioid daily dosage (50 to < 90 morphine milligram equivalents (MME): AOR = 2.43, 95% CI 2.15-2.76 and ≥ 90 MME: AOR = 3.94, 95% CI 3.47-4.46; reference: < 50 MME), receiving concurrent benzodiazepines (AOR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.16-1.38), and having a diagnosis of opioid use disorder (AOR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.40-1.73). History of opioid overdose was not associated with naloxone (AOR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.74-1.15). The percent of patients receiving naloxone increased, yet less than 2% of patients in any of the key overdose risk factor groups received naloxone by the last 6 months of the study period.ConclusionsNaloxone prescribing has increased and was more likely to be co-prescribed to patients with some risk factors for overdose. However, overall prescribing remains minimal. Additional efforts are needed across health systems to increase naloxone prescribing for patients at risk for opioid overdose.

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