AIMS Before proceeding with the introduction of an overdose fatality prevention programme including teaching in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and distribution of naloxone, a pre-launch study of treatment and community samples of injecting drug misusers has been undertaken to establish (i) the extent of witnessing overdoses, (ii) the acceptability of naloxone distribution and training; and (iii...

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of a comprehensive drug screening method as a first line diagnostic tool on clinical decision making in patients attending an emergency department for suspected drug overdose in terms of agreement between physicians on patients' disposal. METHODS Five emergency physicians retrospectively evaluated the records of 142 adult patients, admitt...

AIMS To investigate drug-related deaths among newly released prisoners in England and Wales. DESIGN Database linkage study. PARTICIPANTS National sample of 48,771 male and female sentenced prisoners released during 1998-2000 with all recorded deaths included to November 2003. FINDINGS There were 442 recorded deaths, of which 261 (59%) were drug-related. In the year following index release...

Supervised drug consumption facilities, where illicit drugs can be used under the supervision of trained staff, have been operating in Europe for the last three decades. These facilities primarily aim to reduce the acute risks of disease transmission through unhygienic injecting, prevent drug-related overdose deaths and connect high-risk drug users with addiction treatment and other health and ...

background: skin lesions and blistering in the overdose patient, most notably associated with barbiturate overdoses, are commonly referred to as coma blisters, 'barb blisters', or 'barb burns'. we present a patient who was noted to have skin lesions including bullae and blistering following a prolonged coma after quetiapine overdose. case report: a 27 year old male presented to our institution ...

Preliminary estimates of U.S. drug overdose deaths exceeded 60,000 in 2016 and were partially driven by a fivefold increase in overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids (excluding methadone), from 3,105 in 2013 to approximately 20,000 in 2016 (1,2). Illicitly manufactured fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50-100 times more potent than morphine, is primarily responsible for this rapid increase (3,4...

BACKGROUND Opioid overdose is a public health crisis. This study describes efforts to develop and validate the Brief Opioid Overdose Knowledge (BOOK) questionnaire to assess patient knowledge gaps related to opioid overdose risks. METHODS Two samples of illicit opioid users and a third sample of patients receiving an opioid for the treatment of chronic pain (total N = 848) completed self-repo...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Over the past 20 years, the prescribing of opioids has increased dramatically in North America, with parallel increases in opioid addiction, overdose, and associated deaths. We examined whether young children of women prescribed opioids were at increased risk of opioid overdose. METHODS We conducted a population-based, nested case control study in Ontario, Canada, bet...