Please read Dr. Crystal’s article in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment titled, “Medically treated opioid overdoses among New Jersey Medicaid beneficiaries: Rapid growth and complex comorbidity amid growing fentanyl penetration.“
Public and research attention to opioid overdose has focused predominantly on fatalities, yet the great majority of opioid-involved overdoses do not result in death. Medically treated overdoses are far more common and are strongly associated with increased risk of permanent disability, subsequent overdose, and subsequent mortality. During the year following a medically treated non–fatal overdose, the rate of fatal opioid overdose has been found in one study of Medicaid beneficiaries to be 1154 per 100,000 person-years, and the overall mortality rate to be 7783 per 100,000 person-years with a standardized mortality rate ratio (compared to the demographically matched general population) of 24.2 for all-cause mortality, 132.1 for drug use-associated diseases, 45.9 for HIV, 41.1 for chronic respiratory diseases, 30.9 for viral hepatitis, and 25.9 for suicide. To read the full article.
Medically treated opioid overdoses among New Jersey Medicaid beneficiaries: Rapid growth and complex comorbidity amid growing fentanyl penetration. Crystal S, Nowels M, Olfson M, Samples H, Williams AR, Treitler P. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2021 Dec;131:108546. PMID: 34391586 PMCID: PMC 8664984 DOI: 1016/j.jsat.2021.108546 Epub 2021 Jun 24.