BACKGROUND Drug overdose is a major cause of death and illness among illicit drug users. Previous research has indicated that most illicit drug users experience nonfatal overdoses and has suggested a variety of factors that are associated with risk of overdose. In this study, we examined the occurrence of and the factors associated with nonfatal overdoses within a Canadian sample of illicit opi...

KEY FINDINGS Key findings Data from the National Vital Statistics System, Mortality ● The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2015 (16.3 per 100,000) was more than 2.5 times the rate in 1999 (6.1). ● Drug overdose death rates increased for all age groups, with the greatest percentage increase among adults aged 55-64 (from 4.2 per 100,000 in 1999 to 21.8 in 2015). I...

background: tramadol overdose is relatively common in iran. a series of tramadol poisoned patients with paresthesia and decreased muscle strength are described. methods: in this prospective cross-sectional study, all referred cases to mashhad medical toxicology center with suspected tramadol poisoning between 1st july 2010 and 1st september 2012 were included. patients with mixed overdose, hist...

Poisoning and overdose of beta-blockers may be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Management is often complicated by failure of initial first-line interventions in severe ingestions. High-dose insulin, or hyperinsulinemia/euglycemia therapy has been well described in calcium channel blocker overdose as well as mixed ingestions of calcium channeland betablocker agents. The data...

Community-based opioid overdose prevention programs (OOPPs) that include the distribution of naloxone have increased in response to alarmingly high overdose rates in recent years. This systematic review describes the current state of the literature on OOPPs, with particular focus on the effectiveness of these programs. We used systematic search criteria to identify relevant articles, which we a...

Heroin overdose deaths in the Unites States more than tripled from 2010 to 2014, reaching almost 11,000 per year. Despite the use of the term “overdose,” many of these victims died after self-administering an amount of opiate that would not be expected to be fatal for these drug-experienced, and drug-tolerant, individuals. Various explanations of this overdose mystery have been proposed. I desc...

Non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema has not been previously described in calcium channel blocker overdose. We describe a case of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema occurring during the course of therapy for massive diltiazem overdose in a young patient with anorexia nervosa. Review of the current literature suggests that major and minor pulmonary complications occur with some frequency in the setting ...

The United States is experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose (poisoning) deaths. Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137%, including a 200% increase in the rate of overdose deaths involving opioids (opioid pain relievers and heroin). CDC analyzed recent multiple cause-of-death mortality data to examine current trends and characteristics of drug overdose deaths, in...

OBJECTIVE To assess whether measuring plasma paracetamol concentrations in all patients with drug overdose or collapse (altered consciousness) changes outcome. METHOD A retrospective survey was performed of all patients attending the Accident and Emergency Department at Guy's Hospital, London over a 12 month period who had plasma paracetamol concentrations measured (it is hospital policy that...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of state supported overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution (OEND) programs on rates of opioid related death from overdose and acute care utilization in Massachusetts. DESIGN Interrupted time series analysis of opioid related overdose death and acute care utilization rates from 2002 to 2009 comparing community-year strata with high and low rates of O...