Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37465971›Full record

ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2023

Healthcare costs and use before and after opioid overdose in Veterans Health Administration patients with opioid use disorder.

Vilija R Joyce, Elizabeth M Oliva, Carla C Garcia, Jodie Trafton, Steven M Asch, Todd H Wagner, Keith Humphreys, Douglas K Owens, Mark Bounthavong

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 39% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Vilija R JoyceVA Health Economics Resource Center, US Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2484-4625
Elizabeth M OlivaVA Center for Innovation to Implementation, US Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8318-3049
Carla C GarciaVA Health Economics Resource Center, US Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Jodie TraftonDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Steven M AschVA Center for Innovation to Implementation, US Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Todd H WagnerVA Health Economics Resource Center, US Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Keith HumphreysVA Center for Innovation to Implementation, US Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0694-5761
Douglas K OwensStanford Health Policy, Department of Health Policy, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Mark BounthavongVA Health Economics Resource Center, US Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
United States Department of Veterans Affairs · USVA Palo Alto Health Care System · USStanford Health Care · US

Funding

Western States Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (TMS for CUD) UG1DA015815 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI Keith N. Humphreys, Philip Todd Korthuis · 2015 to 2026
$24.6M
Making Better Decisions: Policy Modeling for AIDS and Drug AbuseR37DA015612 · NIDA · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI DOUGLAS K OWENS · 2019 to 2026
$6.3M
HSRD VA I01 HX002457NIDA NIH HHS R37 DA015612NIDA NIH HHS UG1 DA015815
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsTo compare healthcare costs and use between United States (US) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) who experienced an opioid overdose (OD cohort) and patients with OUD who did not experience an opioid overdose (non-OD cohort).

designThis is a retrospective cohort study of administrative and clinical data.

settingThe largest integrated national health-care system is the US Veterans Health Administration's healthcare systems.

participantsWe included VHA patients diagnosed with OUD from October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. We identified the index date of overdose for patients who had an overdose. Our control group, which included patients with OUD who did not have an overdose, was randomly assigned an index date. A total of 66 513 patients with OUD were included for analysis (OD cohort: n = 1413; non-OD cohort: n = 65 100). MEASUREMENTS: Monthly adjusted healthcare-related costs and use in the year before and after the index date. We used generalized estimating equation models to compare patients with an opioid overdose and controls in a difference-in-differences framework.

findingsCompared with the non-OD cohort, an opioid overdose was associated with an increase of $16 890 [95% confidence interval (CI) = $15 611-18 169; P < 0.001] in healthcare costs for an estimated $23.9 million in direct costs to VHA (95% CI = $22.1 million, $25.7 million) within the 30 days following overdose after adjusting for baseline characteristics. Inpatient costs ($13 515; 95% CI = $12 378-14 652; P < 0.001) reflected most of this increase. Inpatient days (+6.15 days; 95% CI, = 5.33-6.97; P < 0.001), inpatient admissions (+1.01 admissions; 95% CI = 0.93-1.10; P < 0.001) and outpatient visits (+1.59 visits; 95% CI = 1.34-1.84; P < 0.001) also increased in the month after opioid overdose. Within the overdose cohort, healthcare costs and use remained higher in the year after overdose compared with pre-overdose trends.

conclusionsThe US Veterans Health Administration patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) who have experienced an opioid overdose have increased healthcare costs and use that remain significantly higher in the month and continuing through the year after overdose than OUD patients who have not experienced an overdose.

Indexed as

Drug OverdoseOpiate OverdoseOpioid-Related DisordersVeteransAnalgesics, OpioidHealth Care CostsHumansRetrospective StudiesUnited StatesVeterans HealthAnalgesics, OpioidEconomicshealthcare costsopiate overdoseopioid-related disordersUnites Statesutilizationveterans

Identifiers

PMID37465971
PMCPMC11680310
OpenAlexW4384662877

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.