Addiction treatment found to decrease suicide risk among people with opioid dependence

Treating opioid use dysfunction considerably lowers the very excessive charge (eight occasions the final inhabitants) of suicide amongst folks with opioid dependence.

A Scottish research led by Glasgow Caledonian College of over 45,000 sufferers receiving methadone or buprenorphine for opioid use dysfunction reported this end result within the journal Dependancy.

There have been 575 suicides among the many group of 46,453 folks with opioid use dysfunction, accounting for 1.2% of the group. Though each member of the group acquired an OAT prescription sooner or later between 2011 and 2020, a few of these suicides occurred during times when folks weren’t in receipt of an OAT prescription.

The research assumed that each suicide that occurred greater than 60 days after the particular person acquired an OAT prescription would have occurred whereas the particular person was not on drug remedy for opioid dependence.

When researchers divided the 575 suicide deaths into these occurring whereas the particular person was on OAT versus these dedicated whereas the particular person was not on OAT, they discovered that the speed of suicide for folks not on OAT was greater than thrice larger than the speed for folks on OAT.

Lead creator and researcher at Glasgow Caledonian College Rosalyn Fraser feedback, “Individuals with opioid dependence in Scotland are at a lot larger danger of suicide than the final inhabitants. However there’s sturdy proof that suicide charges are decrease amongst folks receiving methadone or buprenorphine.

“OAT helps folks entry different assist companies, stabilizes drug use, and offers alternatives to construct therapeutic relationships and scale back isolation. It is crucial to get folks with opioid dependence into drug remedy to cut back their suicide danger.”

Senior creator and Glasgow Caledonian College Professor of Public Well being Andrew McAuley added, “In Scotland, developments in suicide in people who find themselves opioid dependent declined throughout a interval the place overdose deaths greater than doubled. Importantly, retention in opioid agonist remedy is a crucial intervention each for suicide and opioid overdose prevention methods.”

Supplied by
Society for the Research of Dependancy