Drug and alcohol review
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Drug and alcohol review · Sep 2019
Reductions in emergency department presentations associated with opioid agonist treatment vary by geographic location: A retrospective study in New South Wales, Australia.
It is not known if the reduction in ED use during periods of OAT occurs across urgent and low acuity presentations. We aimed to compare the incidence and costs of urgent and low acuity ED presentations of people with opioid use disorder (OUD) in and out of opioid agonist treatment (OAT). ⋯ OAT was associated with reductions in urgent ED presentations and associated costs among people with OUD. Geographical variation was evident for low acuity ED presentations, highlighting the need to increase access to OAT in regional/remote areas.