 Research by Oregon Health & Science University shows that 8% of patients hospitalized due to opioid use disorder (OUD) die within a year of being discharged from the hospital. These rates are similar to those of patients who have suffered a heart attack. The study examined the timeframe of April 2015 to December 2017. All of the study participants were at least 18 years old and had a history of OUD. A total of 6,654 patients in Oregon were examined, and 522 died within a year of being discharged. Fifty-eight percent of the deaths were attributed to drug-related causes.
The study aims to emphasize the need for universally accepted standards, metrics and quality reporting for OUD post hospital discharge as there are for heart attacks after hospital discharge.
Brendan Saloner, an associate professor from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and his research team analyzed 150,000 urine samples from patients who had been prescribed buprenorphine between 2013 and 2019. The objective was to study the association between urine drug positive samples for nonprescribed substances among individuals who were prescribed buprenorphine. The study showed that those who tested negative for buprenorphine were 10 times more likely to test positive for heroin and seven times more likely to test positive for fentanyl. Fentanyl positive rates were highest among men between 18 and 24 years old living in the New England area who are covered by Medicaid. However, an oxycodone-positive test was more frequent for women older than 55 years old in the South Atlantic area with private insurance.
The researchers conclude by saying the findings suggest that national urine drug testing data can provide a unique window into changing polysubstance use trends among patients treated with buprenorphine.
Research from the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that Native Americans and Alaska Natives have a higher rate of methamphetamine use disorder. Methamphetamine-linked deaths rose from 5,526 in 2015 to 15,489 in 2019 in the United States. For Black Americans specifically, there was a tenfold increase in methamphetamine use over these five years.
Dr. Stephen Taylor, a psychiatrist and Fellow with the American Society of Addiction Medicine, told National Public Radio that the focus of opioid use in white rural communities has taken away the much-needed attention toward communities of color.
Along with the increase in frequency of use, researchers have also seen an increase in intravenous use of the substance and a boost in combining methamphetamine with other drugs.
Although the data discussed was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary information shows an even higher increase in the last 12 months. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that approximately 96,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses in the previous 12 months; 15-20% involve methamphetamines. There are no medications approved to assist in treating methamphetamine use disorder.
 Based on an American Medical Association (AMA) released a report, there has been a 44.4% decrease in opioid prescribing in the past decade. However, the country is still facing increased drug-related overdose and deaths. The AMA hopes to address the epidemic by removing barriers to evidence-based care by asking policymakers to work with physicians to reduce mortality and improve patient outcomes. Overdose deaths are increasing even as physicians have increased their use of drug monitoring programs from 750 million times in 2019 to 910 million times in 2020. Prescription drug monitoring programs help physicians identify patients who are receiving multiple prescriptions. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention attributes this increase to the illicit use of fentanyl and its analogs, methamphetamine and cocaine. Data from the National Institutes of Health and other health services shows that that Black, Latinx, and American Indian/Native Alaskan populations face additional challenges and inequities. The AMA is encouraging policy makers to stop prior authorization, ensure access to affordable evidence-based care, improve data collection, and better support for naloxone, syringe exchange and other harm reduction services to combat this epidemic.
Looking for drug overdose data? State and county level data relating to drug overdose deaths, nonfatal overdoses, opioid prescribing and much more can be found on the Drug Overdose Dashboard. Additional overdose data can be found on StatsExplorer. Please reach out to the DOP team to ask data questions.
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