ArticleMMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report2025
Overdoses Involving Medetomidine Mixed with Opioids - Chicago, Illinois, May 2024.
Article in MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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.
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
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Clinical Presentation of Medetomidine-Involved Opioid Overdoses-Chicago, 2024.Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology · 2026Article
- Responding to medetomidine in Philadelphia: narrative summary of the public health response to a new psychoactive substance.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Article
- Review
- "When" matters: Differences in fatal opioid-related overdose events in Massachusetts by time of day, 2019-2023.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Abuse Potential and Neurotoxic Effects of the Synthetic Cannabinoid 4F-ABUTINACA Self-Administration in Adult Male Rats.Addiction biology · 2026Article
- The effects of fentanyl and dexmedetomidine on cardiorespiratory activity: implications for morbidity and mortality associated with adulterated fentanyl products.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Overdose Effects of Medetomidine and Fentanyl in Rats: Reflex, Vital and Analgesic Parameters as Predictive Markers.Veterinary medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Article
- Enantiomeric Determination of Medetomidine in Street Drug Samples (August 2024-February 2025) and Implications for Immunoassay Test Strip Analysis.Drug testing and analysis · 2025Article
- Emergence of Medetomidine in the Unregulated Drug Supply and Its Association With Hallucinogenic Effects.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Recent advances in the identification and quantification of xylazine and medetomidine in biological specimens.Bioanalysis · 2025Review
- Fixed-proportion mixtures with the α2-adrenergic agonist clonidine or lofexidine do not alter fentanyl self-administration in non-opioid-dependent male and female rats.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Biochemical Identification and Clinical Description of Medetomidine Exposure in People Who Use Fentanyl in Philadelphia, PA.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
30 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Medetomidine, a nonopioid sedative not approved for use in humans, has periodically been detected in illegally manufactured opioids across North America since 2022. On May 11, 2024, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Illinois Department of Public Health were alerted by hospitals and the Illinois Poison Center to an increase in emergency medical services responses for suspected opioid-involved overdoses with atypical symptoms, mostly clustered on Chicago's West Side. CDPH and CDC investigated and identified 12 confirmed, 26 probable, and 140 suspected overdoses involving medetomidine mixed with opioids among patients treated at three hospitals in Chicago's West Side during May 11-17, 2024. Medetomidine had not been previously identified in Chicago's illegal drug supply. Fentanyl was identified in all drug samples and blood specimens containing medetomidine. Most patients were male, non-Hispanic Black or African American, and aged 45-64 years; most patients with confirmed cases experienced bradycardia and had no or only a partial response to naloxone. This cluster is the largest reported for confirmed medetomidine-involved overdoses. Multisector surveillance, including by health care providers, toxicology laboratories, and public health personnel, was essential for quickly identifying and responding to new adulterants in the illegal drug supply. Because all specimens and samples in this investigation that contained medetomidine also contained natural or synthetic opioids, administering naloxone for all suspected opioid-involved overdoses remains crucial.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.