ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2023
Methadone-involved overdose deaths in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Characterizing post-mortem blood concentrations in methadone-related deaths.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Facile construction of 3D pyramidal Cu nanoparticles on indium tin oxide: a simple and sensitive platform for methadone monitoring in biological samples.Mikrochimica acta · 2026Article
- U.S. states opting out of expanded methadone take-home policies and associated mortality.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- Article
- Methadone Blockade of Inward Rectifier Potassium Current Promotes Both Early and Delayed Repolarization Arrhythmias: Mechanistic Insights From Computational Modeling.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Article
- Methadone-involved overdose deaths in urban and rural communities before and after the public health emergency flexibilities for methadone take-home doses.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2025Article
- Exploration of the multi-level barriers to scaling up methadone for HIV prevention among people who inject drugs in Kazakhstan.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- Ecological momentary assessment study of same-hour polysubstance use among people who use opioids and additional substances.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- Article
- Impact of guidance issued during COVID-19 to expand take-home doses of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) in Ireland: protocol for a population-based analysis of prescribing practices and patient outcomes 2018 to 2023.HRB open research · 2025Article
- Methadone treatment utilization and overdose trends among Medicaid beneficiaries in New Jersey before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2024Article
- Estimated effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of opioid use disorder treatment under proposed U.S. regulatory relaxations: A model-based analysis.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- Art therapy's engagement of brain networks for enduring recovery from addiction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Observational
- Racial, Ethnic, and Sex Differences in Methadone-Involved Overdose Deaths Before and After the US Federal Policy Change Expanding Take-home Methadone Doses.JAMA health forum · 2023Article
- Examination of methadone involved overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic.Forensic science international · 2023Article
- Synthesising evidence of the effects of COVID-19 regulatory changes on methadone treatment for opioid use disorder: implications for policy.The Lancet. Public health · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFew studies have characterized methadone-involved overdose deaths in the US since 2014 despite changing patterns of opioid use, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and changes to take-home dose guidance in opioid treatment programs (OTPs) in March 2020.
methodsData on monthly overdose deaths in the US from January 1, 2007 to March 31, 2021 were obtained through CDC WONDER. Interrupted time series models were used to assess for changes in series levels starting in April 2020. Analyses were stratified by involvement of synthetic opioids in overdose deaths.
resultsAn increase in methadone-involved overdoses of 105.4 deaths per month (95 % CI: 73.8-137.0) occurred starting in April 2020 compared with prior trends (p < 0.001). Trends in methadone-involved overdose deaths showed a step increase starting in April 2020 both with (54.2 deaths per month; 95 % CI: 39.4-68.9) and without (51.7 deaths per month; 95 % CI: 23.4-78.0) synthetic opioid involvement (p < 0.001 for both). Among overdose deaths without synthetic opioids, the increase in methadone-involved overdose deaths accounted for 26.5 % of the increase between the 12-month periods before and after March 2020. The relative percentage increase in methadone-involved overdose deaths, both with and without synthetic opioid co-involvement, was highest among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black individuals.
conclusionsMethadone-involved overdose deaths, both with and without other synthetic opioid co-involvement, increased during the 12-month period after March 2020, compared with prior trends. These results provide a cautionary addition to previous findings of no or limited methadone-related harms after the US regulatory changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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