ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2019
Overdose following initiation of naltrexone and buprenorphine medication treatment for opioid use disorder in a United States commercially insured cohort.
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 113 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
113 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 157 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Comparison of Medication-Assisted Treatment Options for Opioid Addiction: A Review of the Literature.Journal of addictions nursingPooled it
- Mindfulness Training vs Recovery Support for Opioid Use, Craving, and Anxiety During Buprenorphine Treatment: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Rapid Initiation of Injection Naltrexone for Opioid Use Disorder: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- The Emergency Department Longitudinal Integrated Care (ED-LINC) intervention targeting opioid use disorder: A pilot randomized clinical trial.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2022Trial
- Prescribers' satisfaction with delivering medications for opioid use disorder.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2021Trial
- Sublingual Buprenorphine-Naloxone Compared With Injection Naltrexone for Opioid Use Disorder: Potential Utility of Patient Characteristics in Guiding Choice of Treatment.The American journal of psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Lorcaserin treatment for extended-release naltrexone induction and retention for opioid use disorder individuals: A pilot, placebo-controlled randomized trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Trial
- Naltrexone, Naloxone, Morphine, and Fentanyl Pharmacologically Chaperone a Mutant μ-Opioid Receptor via an Endoplasmic Reticulum Exit Site-Dependent Pathway.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2026Article
- Discontinuing extended-release buprenorphine: Participant experiences from a mixed-methods observational study.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2026Article
- Outcomes of a Program to Support Outpatient Antibiotic Adherence Among People Experiencing Housing Instability With Serious Injection Drug-Related Infections in Boston, MA: A Propensity Score Matched Study.Open forum infectious diseases · 2026Article
- National trends in cardiovascular deaths with concurrent accidental drug poisoning coding in the United States: a 22-year analysis of the CDC WONDER database (1999-2020).BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2026Article
- Medications for opioid use disorder, recovery supports, and overdose risk -- a database linkage study of a rural cohort of people who inject drugs and use opioids.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Buprenorphine-Naloxone vs Extended-Release Naltrexone Following Opioid Withdrawal Treatment.JAMA network open · 2026Observational
- Health Plan Disenrollment and Mortality After Initiation of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder.JAMA psychiatry · 2026Article
- Evaluating the optimal duration of medication treatment for opioid use disorder.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Risk of opioid overdose during buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder in the fentanyl era.Addictive behaviors · 2026Article
- Rationale and design of a three-arm randomized clinical trial to improve drug use and retention in care of people with opioid use disorder on buprenorphine: OVERCOME II study.Contemporary clinical trials · 2026Article
- Pharmacotherapy and overdose risk following new opioid use disorder diagnosis among Medicaid beneficiaries.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2026Article
- Cost-Effectiveness of Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in Pregnancy and Its Impact on Birth Outcomes.JAMA pediatrics · 2025Article
- Prevention and Management of Opioid use Disorder and Overdose in Adolescents and Young Adults.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsDespite the growing opioid overdose crisis, medication treatment for opioid use disorder remains uncommon. The comparative effectiveness of buprenorphine and naltrexone treatment in reducing overdose and the comparative risks of discontinuing treatment in the real world, remain uncertain. Our aim was to examine the effectiveness of medications for opioid use disorder in preventing opioid-related overdose.
designRetrospective cohort study
settingUnited States. PATIENTS: 46,846 commercially insured individuals diagnosed with opioid use disorder and initiating medication treatment between 2010 and 2016. MEASUREMENTS: Opioid-related overdose identified by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth and Tenth Revisions.
findingsIn our sample, 1386 individuals were prescribed extended-release injectable naltrexone (median filled prescriptions = 9 months), 7782 were prescribed oral naltrexone (5 months), and 40,441 were prescribed buprenorphine (19 months) at least once during follow-up. Individuals receiving buprenorphine therapy were at significantly reduced risk of opioid-related overdose compared to no treatment (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 0.40, 95% CI 0.35-0.46), while a significant association was not observed in extended-release injectable (HR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.42-1.31) or oral (HR = 0.93, 95% CI 0.71-1.22) naltrexone. We found no association with opioid overdose within four weeks of discontinuation of any medication.
conclusionAmong commercially-insured patients who initiate medications for opioid use disorder, buprenorphine, but not naltrexone, was associated with lower risk of overdose during active treatment compared to post-discontinuation. More research is needed to understand the benefits and risks unique to each treatment option to better tailor therapies to patients with opioid use disorder.
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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.