Characteristics of Patients With Opioid Use Disorder Associated With Performing Overdose Reversals in the Community: An Opioid Treatment Program Analysis

Abstract

Objective:The primary outcome of this study is to identify characteristics of study participants in a large opioid treatment program (OTP) for opioid use disorder (OUD) who used take-home naloxone to perform 1 or more opioid overdose (OD) reversal(s) in the community.Methods:This 6-month prospective cohort study provided take-home naloxone and opioid OD education for 287 study participants with OUD. Characteristics associated with use of the take-home naloxone were determined from among 16 variables using multivariable logistic regression.Results:The study participants who had greater odds of using the take-home naloxone to perform OD reversals, compared to those who did not use the take-home naloxone, (a) received emergency room care themselves for OD (OR=4.89, 95% CI 1.54-15.52, P=0.007), (b) previously witnessed someone else OD (OR=5.67, 95% CI 1.24-25.87, P=0.025), (c) tested positive for 2 or more illicit substances at their 6-month urine analysis (OR=5.26, 95% CI 1.58-17.54, P=0.007) or were missing their 6-month urine analysis (OR=3.46, 95% CI 1.42-8.43, P=0.006). In addition, they had greater odds of being (d) less than 30 years old (OR=2.80, 95% CI 1.02-7.66, P=0.045), and (e) Hispanic (OR=3.98, 95% CI 1.41-11.21, P=0.009).Conclusions:This study prospectively identified several characteristics of patients enrolled in an OTP with increased odds of using take-home naloxone in their social networks. Future harm reduction efforts may benefit by using targeted characteristics to identify those most likely to use naloxone in their communities.