Association Between Increased Dispensing of Opioid Agonist Therapy Take-Home Doses and Opioid Overdose and Treatment Interruption and Discontinuation

Original research
by
Gomes, Tara, et al

Release Date

2022

Geography

Canada

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

No

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

No

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

Among recipients of opioid agonist therapy (OAT) in Ontario, Canada, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, was there an association between dispensing of increased take-home doses and treatment retention or opioid-related harm?

Findings/Key points

In Ontario, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic, dispensing of increased take-home doses of OAT was significantly associated with lower rates of treatment interruption and discontinuation among some subsets of patients, and there were no statistically significant increases in opioid-related overdoses, although the findings may be susceptible to residual confounding and should be interpreted cautiously.

Design/methods

Retrospective propensity-weighted cohort study of 21 297 OAT recipients

Keywords

Policy/Regulatory
Substitution/OAT
Overdose
Evidence base
Carries/take-home doses