@article{ref1,
title="Risks of opioid overdose among New York State Medicaid recipients with chronic pain before and during the COVID-19 pandemic",
journal="Preventive medicine",
year="2023",
author="Mannes, Zachary L. and Wheeler-Martin, Katherine and Terlizzi, Kelly and Hasin, Deborah S. and Perry, Allison and Pamplin, John R. and Crystal, Stephen and Cerdá, Magdalena and Martins, Silvia S.",
volume="177",
number="",
pages="e107789-e107789",
abstract="OBJECTIVE The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to healthcare disruptions for patients with chronic pain. Following initial disruptions, national policies were enacted to expand access to long-term opioid therapy (LTOT) for chronic pain and opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment services, which may have modified risk of opioid overdose. We examined associations between LTOT and/or OUD with fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses, and whether the pandemic moderated overdose risk in these groups.  Methods We analyzed New York State Medicaid claims data (3/1/2019-12/31/20) of patients with chronic pain (N = 236,391). We used generalized estimating equations models to assess associations between LTOT and/or OUD (neither LTOT or OUD [ref], LTOT only, OUD only, and LTOT and OUD) and the pandemic (03/2020-12/2020) with opioid overdose.  Results The pandemic did not significantly (ns) affect opioid overdose among patients with LTOT and/or OUD. While patients with LTOT (vs. no LTOT) had a slight increase in opioid overdose during the pandemic (pre-pandemic: aOR:1.65, 95% CI:1.05, 2.57; pandemic: aOR:2.43, CI:1.75,3.37, ns), patients with OUD had a slightly attenuated odds of overdose during the pandemic (pre-pandemic: aOR:5.65, CI:4.73, 6.75; pandemic: aOR:5.16, CI:4.33, 6.14, ns). Patients with both LTOT and OUD also experienced a slightly reduced odds of opioid overdose during the pandemic (pre-pandemic: aOR:5.82, CI:3.58, 9.44; pandemic: aOR:3.70, CI:2.11, 6.50, ns).  Conclusions Findings demonstrated no significant effect of the pandemic on opioid overdose among people with chronic pain and LTOT and/or OUD, suggesting pandemic policies expanding access to chronic pain and OUD treatment services may have mitigated the risk of opioid overdose.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0091-7435",
doi="10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107789",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107789"
}