Only 4 per cent of opioid overdose patients were prescribed drugs to manage addiction in week after hospital visit: Ontario study – CTV
Jan. 5, 2024
A new study has found that only one in 18 people who ended up in hospital in Ontario after an opioid overdose were prescribed drugs known to help manage opioid use disorders in the following week —despite this mitigation strategy being recommended in Canada for years.
Long-acting opioids like methadone or Suboxone, when taken under medical supervision, can soothe withdrawal symptoms and help patients curb the urge to seek out more dangerous opioids they may have developed a dependence on, such as heroin, oxycodone or fentanyl.
Called opioid agonist therapy (OAT), it’s been around for decades and has been widely recommended for clinical practice in Canada since 2018.
However, a new study published December in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) suggests that, at least in Ontario, only a fraction of patients are gaining access to this treatment.
