Intervention in an opioid overdose event increases interest in treatment among individuals with opioid use disorder

Exploring trauma and wellbeing of people who use drugs after witnessing overdose: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

The national overdose crisis is often quantified by overdose deaths, but understanding the traumatic impact for those who witness and respond to overdoses can help elucidate mental health needs and opportunities for intervention for this population. Many who respond to overdoses are people who use drugs. This study adds to the literature on how people who use drugs qualitatively experience trauma resulting from witnessing and responding to overdose, through the lens of the Trauma-Informed Theory of Individual Health Behavior.

METHODS

We conducted 60-min semi-structured, in-depth phone interviews. Participants were recruited from six states and Washington, DC in March-April 2022. Participants included 17 individuals who witnessed overdose(s) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interview guide was shaped by theories of trauma. The codebook was developed using a priori codes from the interview guide; inductive codes were added during content analysis. Transcripts were coded using ATLAS.ti.

RESULTS

A vast majority reported trauma from witnessing overdoses. Participants reported that the severity of trauma varied by contextual factors such as the closeness of the relationship to the person overdosing or whether the event was their first experience witnessing an overdose. Participants often described symptoms of trauma including rumination, guilt, and hypervigilance. Some reported normalization of witnessing overdoses due to how common overdoses were, while some acknowledged overdoses will never be "normal." The impacts of witnessing overdose on drug use behaviors varied from riskier substance use to increased motivation for treatment and safer drug use practices.

CONCLUSION

Recognizing the traumatic impact of witnessed overdoses is key to effectively addressing the full range of sequelae of the overdose crisis. Trauma-informed approaches should be central for service providers when they approach this subject with clients, with awareness of how normalization can reduce help-seeking behaviors and the need for psychological aftercare. We found increased motivation for behavior change after witnessing, which presents opportunity for intervention.

Black clients in expansion states who used opioids were more likely to access medication for opioid use disorder after ACA implementation

INTRODUCTION

Black people in the United States who use opioids receive less treatment and die from overdoses at higher rates than White people. Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) decreases overdose risk. Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the United States was associated with an increase in MOUD. To what extent racial disparity exists in MOUD following ACA implementation remains unclear. Using a national sample of people seeking treatment for opioids (clients), we compared changes in MOUD after the ACA to determine whether implementation was associated with increased MOUD for Black clients relative to White clients.

METHODS

We identified 878,110 first episodes for clients with opioids as primary concern from SAMHDA's Treatment Episodes Dataset-Admissions (TEDS-A; 2007-2018). We performed descriptive and logistic regression analyses to estimate odds of MOUD for Black and White clients by Medicaid expansion status. We interacted ACA implementation with racial group and performed subpopulation analyses for Medicaid enrollees and criminal justice-referred clients.

RESULTS

In expansion states post-ACA, MOUD increased from 33.6% to 51.3% for White clients and from 36.2% to 61.7% for Black clients. Pre-ACA, Black clients were less likely than White clients to use MOUD (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.88, 99th Confidence Interval (CI) = [0.85, 0.91]), and post-ACA, the change in odds of MOUD did not differ. Criminal justice-referred clients experienced less of a change in odds of MOUD among Black clients than among White clients (aOR = 0.74, CI = [0.62, 0.89]). Among Medicaid-insured clients, the change in odds of MOUD among Black clients was larger (aOR = 1.16, CI = [1.03, 1.30]). In the non-expansion states before 2014, Black clients were less likely to receive MOUD (aOR = 0.86, CI = [0.77, 0.95]) than White clients. After 2014, the change in odds of MOUD increased more for Black clients relative to White clients (aOR = 1.24, CI = [1.07, 1.44]). We did not find significant changes in MOUD for clients referred through the criminal justice system or with Medicaid.

CONCLUSION

The ACA was associated with increased use of MOUD among Black clients and reduction in treatment disparity between Black and White clients. For criminal justice-referred Black clients, disparities in MOUD persist. Black clients with Medicaid in expansion states had the greatest reduction in disparities.

Does naloxone provision lead to increased substance use? A systematic review to assess if there is evidence of a 'moral hazard' associated with naloxone supply

BACKGROUND

Take home naloxone (THN) programs have been rapidly upscaled in response to increasing opioid-related mortality. One often cited concern is that naloxone provision could be associated with increased opioid use, due to the availability of naloxone to reverse opioid overdose. We conducted a systematic review to determine whether THN provision is associated with changes in substance use by participants enrolled in THN programs.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic review of the literature to assess changes in heroin or other substance use by people who use opioids following THN provision.

RESULTS

Seven studies with 2578 participants were included. Of the seven studies, there were two quasi-experimental studies and five cohort studies. Based on the Joanna Briggs Institute quality assessment, four studies were of moderate quality and three studies were of high quality. Of the five studies that reported on the primary outcome of heroin use, no study found evidence of increased heroin use across the study population. Five studies reported on other substance use (benzodiazepines, alcohol, cocaine, amphetamine, cannabis, prescription opioids), none of which found evidence of an increase in other substance use associated with THN provision. Four studies reported on changes in overdose frequency following THN provision: three studies reporting no change, and one study of people prescribed opioids finding a reduction in opioid-related emergency department attendances for participants who received naloxone.

CONCLUSION

We found no evidence that THN provision was associated with increased opioid use or overdose. Concerns that THN supply may lead to increased substance use were not supported by data from reviewed studies.

Emotional reactions of trained overdose responders who use opioids following intervention in an overdose event

Background: Our aim was to explore emotional reactions to intervening in an overdose event from the perspective of individuals who use opioids (peer responders). In addition, we were interested in the impact this experience may have on peer responders' feelings about helping in an overdose situation in the future. Methods: For this qualitative sub-study of a randomized controlled trial (RCT), data from 61 interviews were analyzed thematically using an inductive approach. Results: Peer responders had diverse emotional reactions to the overdose event. These ranged from a sense of pride and other positive feelings associated with their ability to help to ambivalence about being involved in situations perceived as challenging and burdensome. There were few reports of the overdose event as an exclusively negative experience. Many peer responders perceived it as their duty to use naloxone again if required. However, some had ambivalent feelings toward this responsibility, which may be related to negative experiences with previous intervention efforts. Conclusions: The capacity of people who use opioids to help reduce the harms associated with opioid overdose is experienced as empowering by some. Nonetheless, engaging peer responders in strategies to reduce opioid-related mortality should be coupled with appropriate resources to process their experiences and emotional responses.

Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC) in individuals with opioid use disorder

AIMS

Resilience is defined as the capacity for an individual to maintain normal functioning and resist the development of psychiatric disorders in response to stress and trauma. Although previous investigators have acknowledged the important role of resilience in those with substance use disorders, this is the first study to investigate the reliability, validity, and factor structure of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25) in a sample of individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD). Additionally, we explored the relationship between trait resilience and the severity of drug-related problems.

METHODS

Four hundred and three participants (22 % female) with OUD completed the CD-RISC-25, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and the self-report Addiction Severity Index (ASI). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tested the originally proposed 5-factor solution of the CD-RISC-25.

RESULTS

CFA results indicated that a 5-factor model of the CD-RISC-25 performed somewhat better than the 1-factor solution. Pearson correlation revealed a negative association between CD-RISC-25 (M = 75.82, SD = 15.78) and ASI drug-use composite score (M = .25, SD=-0.16), r=-0.148, p<.01, and between CD-RISC-25 and BDI-II (M = 11.33, SD = 10.58), r=-.237, p<.001.

CONCLUSIONS

Albeit providing only limited support for the original 5-factor structure, our results indicate that the scale may be useful for screening individuals with OUD who have a vulnerability to stress. Consistent with prior studies, higher resilience was associated with lower depression symptoms and addiction severity, further demonstrating the CD-RISC-25 ability to predict psychiatric stability. To inform the development of more targeted interventions, future studies should examine resilience longitudinally, in addition to exploring more comprehensive approaches to measuring resilience.

Fatal self-injury in the United States, 1999-2018: Unmasking a national mental health crisis

BACKGROUND

Suicides by any method, plus 'nonsuicide' fatalities from drug self-intoxication (estimated from selected forensically undetermined and 'accidental' deaths), together represent self-injury mortality (SIM)-fatalities due to mental disorders or distress. SIM is especially important to examine given frequent undercounting of suicides amongst drug overdose deaths. We report suicide and SIM trends in the United States of America (US) during 1999-2018, portray interstate rate trends, and examine spatiotemporal (spacetime) diffusion or spread of the drug self-intoxication component of SIM, with attention to potential for differential suicide misclassification.

METHODS

For this state-based, cross-sectional, panel time series, we used de-identified manner and underlying cause-of-death data for the 50 states and District of Columbia (DC) from CDC's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research. Procedures comprised joinpoint regression to describe national trends; Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient to assess interstate SIM and suicide rate congruence; and spacetime hierarchical modelling of the 'nonsuicide' SIM component.

FINDINGS

The national annual average percentage change over the observation period in the SIM rate was 4.3% (95% CI: 3.3%, 5.4%; p<0.001) versus 1.8% (95% CI: 1.6%, 2.0%; p<0.001) for the suicide rate. By 2017/2018, all states except Nebraska (19.9) posted a SIM rate of at least 21.0 deaths per 100,000 population-the floor of the rate range for the top 5 ranking states in 1999/2000. The rank-order correlation coefficient for SIM and suicide rates was 0.82 (p<0.001) in 1999/2000 versus 0.34 (p = 0.02) by 2017/2018. Seven states in the West posted a ≥ 5.0% reduction in their standardised mortality ratios of 'nonsuicide' drug fatalities, relative to the national ratio, and 6 states from the other 3 major regions a >6.0% increase (p<0.05).

INTERPRETATION

Depiction of rising SIM trends across states and major regions unmasks a burgeoning national mental health crisis. Geographic variation is plausibly a partial product of local heterogeneity in toxic drug availability and the quality of medicolegal death investigations. Like COVID-19, the nation will only be able to prevent SIM by responding with collective, comprehensive, systemic approaches. Injury surveillance and prevention, mental health, and societal well-being are poorly served by the continuing segregation of substance use disorders from other mental disorders in clinical medicine and public health practice.

FUNDING

This study was partially funded by the National Centre for Injury Prevention and Control, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (R49CE002093) and the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (1UM1DA049412-01; 1R21DA046521-01A1).