ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2019
Non drug-related and opioid-specific causes of 3262 deaths in Scotland's methadone-prescription clients, 2009-2015.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Explaining the Differences in Opioid Overdose Deaths between Scotland and England/Wales: Implications for European Opioid Policies.European addiction research · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Excess mortality following discharge from substance use disorder treatment in Chile.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Liver stiffness and associated risk factors among people with a history of injecting drugs: a prospective cohort study.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2024Article
- Differences in heroin overdose deaths in Australia by age, 2020-2022: Disease and estimated survival times.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2024Article
- Change in self-reported somatic symptoms among patients in opioid maintenance treatment from baseline to 1-year follow-up.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Does opioid agonist treatment reduce overdose mortality risk in people who are older or have physical comorbidities? Cohort study using linked administrative health data in New South Wales, Australia, 2002-17.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Observational
- Gender differences in physical morbidity in opioid agonist treatment patients: population-based cohort studies from the Czech Republic and Norway.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Article
- Cause-Specific Mortality among Patients in Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Multiple Settings: A Prospective Comparative Cohort Study.European addiction research · 2023Article
- Healthcare utilization for somatic conditions among Swedish patients in opioid substitution treatment, with and without on-site primary healthcare.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Healthcare seeking among Swedish patients in opioid substitution treatment - a mixed methods study on barriers and facilitators.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2022Article
- Drug use disorder and risk of incident and fatal prostate cancer among Swedish men: a nationwide epidemiological study.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2022Article
- Perceived healthcare stigma among patients in opioid substitution treatment: a qualitative study.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2021Article
- Healthcare Contacts Regarding Circulatory Conditions among Swedish Patients in Opioid Substitution Treatment, with and without On-Site Primary Healthcare.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Scotland's 2009-2015 methadone-prescription cohort: Quintiles for daily dose of prescribed methadone and risk of methadone-specific death.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2021Article
- Drug use disorder and risk of incident and fatal breast cancer: a nationwide epidemiological study.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2021Article
- Relationship Between Cardiovascular Disease Pathology and Fatal Opioid and Other Sedative Overdose: A Post-Mortem Investigation and Pilot Study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Large and non-specific somatic disease burdens among ageing, long-term opioid maintenance treatment patients.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2020Article
- Article
- Improving prescribing through big data approaches-Ten years of the Scottish Prescribing Information System.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOpioid drug use is a major cause of premature mortality, with opioid substitution therapy the leading intervention. As methadone-clients age, non-drug-related deaths (non-DRDs) predominate and DRD-risks increase differentially, quadrupling at 45+ years for methadone-specific DRDs.
methods36,606 methadone-prescription-clients in Scotland during 2009-2015 were linked to mortality records to end-2015 by their Community Health Index (CHI). Cohort-entry, also baseline quantity of prescribed methadone, were defined by clients' first CHI-identified methadone-prescription during 2009-2015. National Records of Scotland identified non-DRDs from DRDs; and provided ICD10 codes for underlying and co-present causes of death. Methadone-specific DRD means methadone was implicated in DRD but neither heroin nor buprenorphine.
resultsDuring 193,800 person-years of follow-up, 1939 non-DRDs (59%) and 1323 DRDs occurred, of which 546 were methadone-specific. Predominant underlying ICD10 chapters for non-DRDs were: neoplasm (377); external causes (341); diseases of digestive (303), circulatory (286) or respiratory (212) system. As methadone-clients aged, the non-DRD proportion of their deaths increased from 54% (717/1318) at 35-44 years to 89% (372/417) at 55+ years. After allowing for DRDs' opioid-specificity, age-group and quintile for last-prescribed methadone, there was a significant, positive interaction for co-present circulatory disease between top-quintile for prescribed methadone and 45+ years at death (p = 0.033 after Bonferroni); not for digestive or respiratory co-presence.
conclusionsCirculatory disease is the co-morbidity most likely implicated in the quadrupling of methadone-specific DRD-risk at 45+ years; followed by digestive disease. Cultural shift is needed in treatment-services because degenerative non-DRDs predominate as methadone-clients age. Future linkage-studies should access hospitalizations and methadone-daily-dose.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.