TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - Medical outcomes associated with prescription opioid abuse via oral and non-oral routes of administration
JO  - Drug and alcohol dependence
A1  - Green, Jody L.
A1  - Bucher Bartelson, Becki
A1  - Le Lait, M. Claire
A1  - Roland, Carl L.
A1  - Masters, Elizabeth T.
A1  - Mardekian, Jack
A1  - Bailey, J. Elise
A1  - Dart, Richard C.
SP  - 140
EP  - 145
VL  - 175
IS  - 
N2  - BACKGROUND: Prescription opioid abuse and misuse is a serious and growing public health issue. While the most common form of abuse is swallowing intact tablets/capsules, some abusers manipulate, or tamper with, these medications by altering the dosage form to allow for non-oral routes of administration (e.g., injection, inhalation) in order to achieve more rapid or enhanced psychoactive effects. Because administration of opioids via non-oral routes results in greater systemic availability and more rapid central nervous system penetration, we hypothesized that death and major medical outcomes occur more frequently with non-oral routes compared to oral route alone. <br><br>METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzed data from the Researched Abuse, Diversion and Addiction-Related Surveillance (RADARS) System Poison Center Program to investigate relative risk of prescription opioid abuse via oral and non-oral routes. <br><br>RESULTS: While the oral route was the most commonly reported route of abuse (64.0%), non-oral routes were reported in 14.6% exposures and unknown routes in 21.4% exposures. The relative risk of an exposure resulting in death or major effect was 2.43 (95% CI 1.97, 2.99) if non-oral routes were reported compared to exposures involving oral route only. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Analysis of acute health events recorded by poison centers indicates that death or major effects are twice as likely to occur with intentional abuse of prescription opioids via non-oral routes of administration than ingestion alone. Effective interventions to prevent abuse via non-oral routes of solid dosage forms of prescription opioids, such as abuse-deterrent formulations could have a significant public health impact.<br><br>Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0376-8716
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.01.039
ID  - ref1
ER  -