 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and Medscape are introducing free continuing education (CE) for clinicians about overdose deaths among U.S. women ages 30-64 from 1999-2017. The CEs will also focus on the clinical implications of overdose deaths. This activity is intended for members of a healthcare team who care for women who might be at risk for drug overdose. To access this CE opportunity, click here and log in with Medscape credentials. If you do not have a Medscape account, register for free here.
Various tech firms are taking aim at the opioid crisis by delivering treatment by smartphone. The new treatments help supplement and replace pharmaceuticals to treat substance use disorder. Pear Therapeutics has been granted approval to release its new app, reSET-O. This goal of the app is to reprogram the brain’s reward system after it has been altered by addictive substances. The app also allows medical teams to remotely monitor a patient’s progress, which helps fill the absence of medical care in remote areas. A recent study found that 40 percent of patients who used reSET-O abstained from addictive substances, compared with 17.6 percent who only received behavioral therapy. Furthermore, about 82 percent of those using the app stayed in therapy through 12 weeks.
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According to a government report released by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), prescription opioid deaths increased 471 percent for women between 1999 and 2015, compared to an increase of 218 percent among men. This large increase has greater societal implications, as women often play central roles in their respective families and communities. This increase also affects vulnerable populations within the family, primarily babies and adolescents. Babies born to women who used opioids could suffer from opioid withdrawal. Adolescents could also become addicted, since the judgment center in their brains does not fully form until their 20s.
According to a recent study, white drug users have nearly exclusive access to buprenorphine, the drug that curves cravings for opioids and reduces the chance of overdose. This comes at a time when opioid overdose deaths are rising faster for blacks than for whites. The author found that most white patients paid by cash or through private insurance, not by Medicare and Medicaid, to fund treatment. This highlights the cost burden for persons of low income. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, director of Opioid Policy Research at Brandeis University, states that prescribers can demand cash payments for buprenorphine due to the limited number of physicians or nurse practitioners who can prescribe buprenorphine. The full study can be accessed here.
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