ArticleDrug safety2020
Oxycodone, Hydromorphone, and the Risk of Suicide: A Retrospective Population-Based Case-Control Study.
Article in Drug safety, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mental disorder and opioid overdose: a systematic review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2022Pooled it
- Factors Associated with Attempted Suicide Among Emergency Department Patients with Nonfatal Opioid Overdose.Substance use & misuse · 2025Observational
- Long-Term Stability of Hydromorphone in Human Plasma Frozen at -20°C for Three Years Quantified by LC-MS/MS.International journal of analytical chemistry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionOpioids have been increasingly associated with suicide, but whether they are independent contributors is unclear. Oxycodone and hydromorphone are commonly prescribed high-potency opioids that can differentially affect mood.
objectiveThe objective of this study was to explore whether oxycodone and hydromorphone are differentially associated with suicide.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective population-based case-control study in Ontario, Canada, from 1992 to 2014. Using coronial data, we defined case subjects as individuals who died by suicide involving an opioid overdose. Each of these was matched with up to four controls who died of accidental opioid overdose. We ascertained exposure to oxycodone, hydromorphone, and other opioids from postmortem toxicology testing. We used odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals to examine whether opioid-related suicide was disproportionately associated with oxycodone relative to hydromorphone.
resultsWe identified 438 suicides and 1212 accidental deaths, each of which involved either oxycodone or hydromorphone but not both. The median age at death was 49 years and 51% were men. After adjusting for a history of self-harm, psychiatric illness, and exposure to other opioids, we found that oxycodone was more strongly associated with suicide than hydromorphone (adjusted odds ratio 1.59; 95% confidence interval 1.20-2.11). In a secondary analysis, we observed a trend of similar magnitude in which combined exposure to oxycodone and hydromorphone was more strongly associated with suicide than hydromorphone alone (adjusted odds ratio 1.68; 95% confidence interval 0.92-3.09).
conclusionsWhile preliminary, these findings support the possibility that some high-potency opioids might independently influence the risk of suicide in susceptible individuals.
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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.