Medications for Opioid Use Disorder and Mortality and Hospitalization Among People With Opioid Use-related Infections.
Epidemiology
; 35(1): 7-15, 2024 Jan 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37820243
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Severe skin and soft tissue infections related to injection drug use have increased in concordance with a shift to heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl. Opioid agonist therapy medications (methadone and buprenorphine) may improve long-term outcomes by reducing injection drug use. We aimed to examine the association of medication use with mortality among people with opioid use-related skin or soft tissue infections.METHODS:
An observational cohort study of Medicaid enrollees aged 18 years or older following their first documented medical encounters for opioid use-related skin or soft tissue infections during 2007-2018 in North Carolina. The exposure was documented medication use (methadone or buprenorphine claim) in the first 30 days following initial infection compared with no medication claim. Using Kaplan-Meier estimators, we examined the difference in 3-year incidence of mortality by medication use, weighted for year, age, comorbidities, and length of hospital stay.RESULTS:
In this sample, there were 13,286 people with opioid use-related skin or soft tissue infections. The median age was 37 years, 68% were women, and 78% were white. In Kaplan-Meier curves for the total study population, 12 of every 100 patients died during the first 3 years. In weighted models, for every 100 people who used medications, there were four fewer deaths over 3 years (95% confidence interval = 2, 6).CONCLUSION:
In this study, people with opioid use-related skin and soft tissue infections had a high risk of mortality following their initial healthcare visit for infections. Methadone or buprenorphine use was associated with reductions in mortality.
Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Buprenorfina
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Infecciones de los Tejidos Blandos
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Trastornos Relacionados con Opioides
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Epidemiology
Asunto de la revista:
EPIDEMIOLOGIA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Nueva Caledonia