News Finding: Compared with the general population, patients who lived through an opioid overdose were 130 times more likely to die of drug-use-related causes in the following year, the researchers found.
Paper Finding: The magnitude and pattern of the premature mortality, which varied by patient sex, background level of diagnosed medical conditions, and age group, have implications for the medical and behavioral health management of adults after nonfatal opioid overdose.
News Context: Compared with the general population, patients who lived through an opioid overdose were 130 times more likely to die of drug-use-related causes in the following year, the researchers found. These "lucky ones" were also 45 times more likely to die of HIV, 40 times more likely to die of chronic respiratory diseases and nearly 30 times more likely to die of viral hepatitis. Risk of suicide was 25 times greater.
Paper Context: Diseases of the circulatory system, cancer, respiratory system, and suicide also made important contributions to the excess deaths. The magnitude and pattern of the premature mortality, which varied by patient sex, background level of diagnosed medical conditions, and age group, have implications for the medical and behavioral health management of adults after nonfatal opioid overdose. The overall increase in all-cause mortality during the first year after nonfatal overdose exceeded most prior estimates of mortality in cohorts of opioid-using or dependent adults.