Commentary: “Ockham’s Razor” Doesn’t Apply to “Opioid” Overdose Death

Opioid overdose prevention.

Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit Released

Management of opioid analgesic overdose.

Copyright © 2012 Massachusetts Medical Society. Opioid analgesic overdose is a preventable and potentially lethal condition that results from prescribing practices, inadequate understanding on the patient’s part of the risks of medication misuse, errors in drug administration, and pharmaceutical abuse.1,2 Three features are key to an understanding of opioid analgesic toxicity. First, opioid ana...

Prevention of fatal opioid overdose.

OPIOID OVERDOSE IS A BURGEONING PUBLIC HEALTH crisis, accounting for at least 16 000 deaths annually in the United States. Opioid overdose occurs across sex, ethnic, age, and geographic strata and involvesbothmedicalandnonmedicalopioiduse.Todate, federal government response has focused primarily on monitoringandsecuringthedrugsupply. ThisViewpointsuggestsvariousstepsnecessarytosupportamorecompr...

Opioid Prescribing After Nonfatal Overdose and Association With Repeated Overdose.

Measurements: Nonfatal opioid overdose was identified using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, codes from emergency department or inpatient claims. The primary outcome was daily morphine-equivalent dosage (MED) of opioids dispensed from 60 days before to up to 730 days after the index overdose. We categorized dosages as large (≥100 mg MED), moderate...