Using poison center exposure calls to predict methadone poisoning deaths.

Filed under: Methadone Side Effects

PLoS One. 2012; 7(7): e41181
Dasgupta N, Davis J, Jonsson Funk M, Dart R

There are more drug overdose deaths in the Untied States than motor vehicle fatalities. Yet the US vital statistics reporting system is of limited value because the data are delayed by four years. Poison centers report data within an hour of the event, but previous studies suggested a small proportion of poisoning deaths are reported to poison centers (PC). In an era of improved electronic surveillance capabilities, exposure calls to PCs may be an alternate indicator of trends in overdose mortality.We used PC call counts for methadone that were reported to the Researched Abuse, Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS®) System in 2006 and 2007. US death certificate data were used to identify deaths due to methadone. Linear regression was used to quantify the relationship of deaths and poison center calls.Compared to decedents, poison center callers tended to be younger, more often female, at home and less likely to require medical attention. A strong association was found with PC calls and methadone mortality (b?=?0.88, se?=?0.42, t?=?9.5, df?=?1, p<0.0001, R(2)?=?0.77). These findings were robust to large changes in a sensitivity analysis assessing the impact of underreporting of methadone overdose deaths.Our results suggest that calls to poison centers for methadone are correlated with poisoning mortality as identified on death certificates. Calls received by poison centers may be used for timely surveillance of mortality due to methadone. In the midst of the prescription opioid overdose epidemic, electronic surveillance tools that report in real-time are powerful public health tools. Source

Budgetary impact analysis of buprenorphine-naloxone combination (Suboxone®) in Spain.

Filed under: Methadone Side Effects

Health Econ Rev. 2012; 2(1): 3
Martinez-Raga J, Gonzalez-Saiz F, Oñate J, Oyagüez I, Sabater E, Casado MA

ABSTRACT:Opioid addiction is a worldwide problem. Agonist opioid treatment (AOT) is the most widespread and frequent pharmacotherapeutic approach. Methadone has been the most widely used AOT, but buprenorphine, a partial ?-opiod agonist and a ?-opiod antagonist, is fast gaining acceptance. The objective was to assess the budgetary impact in Spain of the introduction of buprenorphine-naloxone (B/N) combination.A budgetary impact model was developed to estimate healthcare costs of the addition of B/N combination to the therapeutic arsenal for treating opioid dependent patients, during a 3-year period under the National Health System perspective. Inputs for the model were obtained from the specialized scientific literature. Detailed information concerning resource consumption (drug cost, logistics, dispensing, medical, psychiatry and pharmacy supervision, counselling and laboratory test) was obtained from a local expert panel. Costs are expressed in euros (€, 2010).The number of patients estimated to be prescribed B/N combination was 2,334; 2,993 and 3,589 in the first, second and third year respectively. Total budget is €85,766,129; €79,855,471 and €79,137,502 in the first, second and third year for the scenario without B/N combination. With B/N combination the total budget would be €86,589,210; €80,398,259 and €79,708,964 in the first, second and third year of the analyses. Incremental cost/patient comparing the addition of the B/N combination to the scenario only with methadone is €10.58; €6.98 and €7.34 in the first, second and third year respectively.Addition of B/N combination would imply a maximum incremental yearly cost of €10.58 per patient compared to scenario only with methadone and would provide additional benefits.
Source

Pill drop off container obtained for Georgetown

Filed under: Methadone Side Effects

The worst side effect of improperly disposing pills? Allowing them to fall … Common opiates are buprenorphine, codeine, demerol, heroin, hydrocodone, lorcet, methadone, morphine, naloxone, opium, oxycontin, vicodin, and vicoprofen. The National …
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Tightening the Rules on Oxycontin Pushes Abusers and Pain Sufferers Toward …

Filed under: Methadone Side Effects

And because prescribing Oxy is tantamount to inviting a DEA audit, doctors are prescribing methadone more often, which accumulates in the system over time and can depress breathing. As a result, deaths from methadone are on … Blatantly obvious …
Read more on Reason Online (blog)

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