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(Reuters Health) – Opioid drug abusers with criminal histories are less likely to die from overdoses or other causes during periods of methadone treatment, according to a Canadian study.
The study involved 14,530 criminal convicted persons who had been prescribed methadone in British Columbia. The researchers collected data from 1998 to 2015; During this time, 1,275 study participants died.
Half of the participants stayed in the study for at least seven years.
Overall, people were 59% less likely to die from external causes such as overdoses, injuries, poisoning, falls, and assaults during periods of methadone treatment. During treatment periods, they were also 73% less likely to die from natural causes such as chronic health conditions or acute illnesses. [Traduction] "Overdose-related deaths were one-third more common when patients were on methadone, and deaths from infectious diseases were one-fifth as likely," said Julian Somers, author of the University. Simon Fraser in Burnaby, British Columbia.
"When people do not take methadone, they probably use other opiates, with unknown purity and forms that produce faster effects and at higher doses, increasing the risk of overdose."
In the midst of an epidemic of opioids that worsens in North America, people with criminal histories are among the most vulnerable to overdose deaths, the researchers note in PLOS Medicine. Even when they are not incarcerated, they often have limited access to drug treatment and methadone treatment programs.
Somers and colleagues reviewed data on orders, convictions, and deaths from all causes.
The annual death rate for all causes was about 11 deaths per 1,000 participants.
The study was not a controlled experiment aimed at proving whether or how methadone treatment could reduce the risk of overdose deaths or other causes. It is also possible that results may be different outside Canada in countries without universal health care or in people without a criminal record. Still, methadone treatment may be protected from overdose deaths because of the many ways in which substance programs can affect people's daily lives, said lead author Angela Russolillo. also from Simon Fraser University. For people with a criminal history, the treatment could reduce their risk of infection, homelessness and criminal behavior.
"People with criminal histories often come from marginalized backgrounds, suffer from a number of complex health and social problems, with increased mortality rates unrelated to drug use," Russolillo said by email. "Methadone can serve as a small piece of the puzzle to improve survival outcomes among this population, or similar marginalized populations."
Methadone occupies the same opioid receptor sites in the brain as the one in the brain. heroin and other opioids. Other less rewarding opioids, noted Wayne Hall, author of an accompanying editorial and researcher in Addiction and Addiction at the University of Queensland in Australia and at Kings College London in the UK -United.
Regular doses of methadone also prevent withdrawal symptoms, which in turn could make people less likely to look for heroin or other illegal drugs, Hall said by email .
"This allows them to live a more stable life and take advantage of rehabilitative opportunities, for example, treating depression, obtaining a job, etc.," said Mr. Lobby. "These programs also allow patients to have other conditions properly treated (eg Hepatitis B and C and HIV / AIDS, depression, etc.) and allow patients to improve their diets." and their way of life and reconnect with their friends and families. . "
SOURCE: bit.ly/2mZ0ng8 PLOS Medicine, Online July 31, 2018.
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