Drug and alcohol review
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Drug and alcohol review · Feb 2020
Correlates of indicators of potential extra-medical opioid use in people prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain.
The opioid-related behaviours in treatment (ORBIT) scale are a measure of recent indicators of potential extra-medical opioid use. Indicators of potential extra-medical opioid use are divergent practices among people prescribed opioids that may place them at risk of harm. This study aimed to examine the correlates of indicators of potential extra-medical opioid use in people prescribed opioids for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP). ⋯ Over one-third of the POINT cohort reported one or more indicators of potential extra-medical opioid use. Lifetime substance use disorders were associated these divergent practices, highlighting the importance of clinical monitoring and patient education for this patient group. Longitudinal studies are needed to investigate whether indicators of potential extra-medical opioid use predict opioid use disorders in this population.
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Drug and alcohol review · Jan 2020
Assessing the limit of detection of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and immunoassay strips for fentanyl in a real-world setting.
Drug checking is a harm reduction intervention increasingly used in the context of the opioid overdose epidemic. The aim of the study was to determine the limit of detection for fentanyl of two point-of-care drug checking technologies. ⋯ Fentanyl immunoassay strips were able to consistently detect the presence of fentanyl in samples at lower concentrations than FTIR spectroscopy. Given that FTIR spectroscopy is able to quantify content, mixture and concentrations on an array of compounds beyond just fentanyl but requires concentrations generally greater than 10%, these findings provide evidence for use of FTIR spectroscopy and immunoassay strips in combination to compensate for the limitations of each technology alone.
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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.
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Drug and alcohol review · Jul 2019
Prescription drug monitoring programs and drug overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines and prescription opioids.
In the US, benzodiazepine overdose deaths increased at an alarming rate in the past two decades. Benzodiazepines were also the most common drugs involved in prescription opioid overdose deaths. Benzodiazepine prescribing has been monitored by Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs), but little was known about whether PDMPs reduced drug overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines. ⋯ This study suggested no evidence that PDMP policies specific to benzodiazepines were associated with reduction in benzodiazepine overdose death rates. Future research is warranted to examine detailed features of PDMPs and continuously monitor the impacts of PDMP policies on benzodiazepine-related consequences.
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Alcohol use impacts workplace productivity in terms of absence and reduced performance by employees. This study's aims were to estimate the cost of lost productivity associated with alcohol use in New Zealand and to describe and quantify its impact on employers. ⋯ Considering absenteeism costs alone will substantially underestimate the total productivity loss associated with alcohol use. Designing and effectively targeting a set of multifaceted policies to engineer change at both the workplace and societal levels will assist in reducing the costs of lost productivity.