ArticleCMAJ open
Death after emergency department visits for opioid overdose in British Columbia: a retrospective cohort analysis.
Article in CMAJ open. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07466784 (Optimizing Outcomes for Patients Presenting to Emergency Departments With Opioid Poisoning), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers.
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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.
Optimizing Outcomes for Patients Presenting to Emergency Departments With Opioid Poisoning
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Opioid agonist treatment outcomes among individuals with a history of nonfatal overdose: Findings from a pragmatic, pan-Canadian, randomized control trial.The American journal on addictions · 2025Trial
- Peer Support Workers to Improve Emergency Department Care Completion Among Patients Who Use Substances: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2026Article
- Article
- "Before medically advised" hospital discharge and the risk of subsequent drug overdose: A case-crossover analysis.Journal of hospital medicine · 2025Article
- Initiation of opioid agonist treatment following hospital-treated opioid toxicities and the risk of repeat events in Ontario, Canada: a cohort study using inverse probability of treatment weights.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- "Before medically advised" departure from hospital and subsequent drug overdose: a population-based cohort study.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Article
- Opioid-specific harm reduction in the emergency department: how staff provide harm reduction and contextual factors that impact their capacity to engage in harm reduction practice.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Overdose and mortality risk following a non-fatal opioid overdose treated by Emergency Medical Services in King County, Washington.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Article
- Race and Ethnicity and Emergency Department Discharge Against Medical Advice.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Article
- How an emergency department is organized to provide opioid-specific harm reduction and facilitators and barriers to harm reduction implementation: a systems perspective.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- Article
- Universal Precautions for People at Risk of Opioid Overdose in North America.JAMA internal medicine · 2023Article
- Article
- Time to act: Early experience suggests stabilization care offers a feasible approach for adolescents after acute life-threatening opioid toxicity.Paediatrics & child health · 2022Article
- Spatial clustering of heroin-related overdose incidents: a case study in Cincinnati, Ohio.BMC public health · 2022Article
- Using linked data to identify pathways of reporting overdose events in British Columbia, 2015-2017.International journal of population data science · 2022Article
- One-year mortality of emergency department patients with substance-induced psychosis.PloS one · 2022Article
- Article
- Frequently asked questions about naloxone: Part 1.Canadian pharmacists journal : CPJ = Revue des pharmaciens du Canada : RPCArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundVisits to the emergency department are critical opportunities to engage individuals after an overdose. We sought to estimate and compare the 12-month mortality between persons with visits to the emergency department related to opioid overdose and those with non-overdose-related visits.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Provincial Overdose Cohort, which contains data for patients in British Columbia who had an opioid-related overdose between 2015 and 2017, along with a 20% random sample of BC residents for comparison. We examined all nonfatal visits to the emergency department between Jan. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2016, among persons aged 14 to 74 years and compared the 12-month mortality between those with overdose-related visits and those with non-overdose-related visits. We estimated the hazard ratio for death, with adjustment for age, sex, comorbidity and disposition (discharged or left against medical advice).
resultsWe included 3593 persons with overdose-related visits and 216 453 with non-overdose-related visits to the emergency department. Those with overdose-related visits were younger, were predominantly male and had more mental health conditions. The 12-month crude mortality probability was 5.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.7%-6.2%) in this group and 1.7% (95% CI 1.6%-1.8%) among those with non-overdose-related visits. After adjustment, for persons who were discharged, the 12-month mortality hazard was 3.5 (95% CI 3.0-4.2) times higher among those with overdose-related visits than those with non-overdose-related visits. For persons who left against medical advice, the mortality hazard was 7.1 (95% CI 4.0-12.5) times higher among those with opioid overdose.
interpretationAmong persons with overdose-related visits to the emergency department, 12-month mortality was higher than among those with non-overdose-related visits. Overdose-related visits should prompt urgent evidence-based interventions (e.g., take-home naloxone kits, buprenorphine-naloxone induction) to prevent future deaths.
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