• Valencia MoralesDiana JDJ0000-0001-8835-9541Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine., Mariana L Laporta, Anne M Meehan, Darrell R Schroeder, Juraj Sprung, and Toby N Weingarten.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine.
• Pain Med. 2022 May 4; 23 (5): 878-886.

BackgroundWe describe the clinical course of medical and surgical patients who received naloxone on general hospital wards for suspected opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD).MethodsFrom May 2018 through October 2020, patients who received naloxone on hospital wards were identified and their records reviewed for incidence and clinical course.ResultsThere were 86,030 medical and 106,807 surgical admissions. Naloxone was administered to 99 (incidence 11.5 [95% confidence interval 9.4-14.0] per 10,000 admissions) medical and 63 (5.9 [95% confidence interval 4.5-7.5]) surgical patients (P < 0.001). Median oral morphine equivalents administered within 24 hours before naloxone were 32 [15, 64] and 60 [32, 88] mg for medical and surgical patients, respectively (P = 0.002). The rapid response team was activated in 69 (69.7%) vs 42 (66.7%) and critical care transfers in 51 (51.5%) vs 30 (47.6%) medical and surgical patients respectively. The number of in-hospital deaths was 21 (21.2%) vs two (3.2%) and the number of discharges to hospice 12 (12.1%) vs one (1.6%) for medical and surgical patients, respectively (P = 0.001). Naloxone did not reverse OIRD in 38 (23%) patients, and these patients had more transfers to the intensive care unit and a higher 30-day mortality rate.ConclusionMedical inpatients are more likely to suffer OIRD than are surgical inpatients despite lower opioid doses. Definitive OIRD was confirmed in 77% of patients because of immediate naloxone response, whereas 23% of patients did not respond, and this subset was more likely to need a higher level of care and had a higher 30-day mortality rate. Careful monitoring of mental and respiratory variables is necessary when opiates are used in hospital.© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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