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Fairbairn, Nadia
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Fairbairn, Nadia
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Fairbairn, Nadia
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- PublicationStrategies to Identify Patient Risks of Prescription Opioid Addiction When Initiating Opioids for Pain(American Medical Association (AMA), 2019-05-03)
; ; ; Importance: Although prescription opioid use disorder is associated with substantial harms, strategies to identify patients with pain among whom prescription opioids can be safely prescribed have not been systematically reviewed. Objective: To review the evidence examining factors associated with opioid addiction and screening tools for identifying adult patients at high vs low risk of developing symptoms of prescription opioid addiction when initiating prescription opioids for pain. Data Sources: MEDLINE and Embase (January 1946 to November 2018) were searched for articles investigating risks of prescription opioid addiction. Study Selection: Original studies that were included compared symptoms, signs, risk factors, and screening tools among patients who developed prescription opioid addiction and those who did not. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Two investigators independently assessed quality to exclude biased or unreliable study designs and extracted data from higher quality studies. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (PRISMA-DTA) reporting guideline was followed. Main Outcomes and Measures: Likelihood ratios (LRs) for risk factors and screening tools were calculated. Results: Of 1287 identified studies, 6 high-quality studies were included in the qualitative synthesis and 4 were included in the quantitative synthesis. The 4 high-quality studies included in the quantitative synthesis were all retrospective studies including a total of 2 888 346 patients with 4470 cases that met the authors’ definitions of prescription opioid addiction. A history of opioid use disorder (LR range, 17-22) or other substance use disorder (LR range, 4.2-17), certain mental health diagnoses (eg, personality disorder: LR, 27; 95% CI, 18-41), and concomitant prescription of certain psychiatric medications (eg, atypical antipsychotics: LR, 17; 95% CI, 15-18) appeared useful for identifying patients at high risk of opioid addiction. Among individual findings, only the absence of a mood disorder (negative LR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.45-0.52) was associated with a lower risk of opioid addiction. Despite their widespread use, most screening tools involving combinations of questions were based on low-quality studies or, when diagnostic performance was assessed among high-quality studies, demonstrated poor performance in helping to identify patients at high vs low risk. Conclusions and Relevance: While a history of substance use disorder, certain mental health diagnoses, and concomitant prescription of certain psychiatric medications appeared useful for identifying patients at higher risk, few quality studies were available and no symptoms, signs, or screening tools were particularly useful for identifying those at lower risk.333Scopus© Citations 83 - PublicationMedication-assisted treatment for youth with opioid use disorder: Current dilemmas and remaining questionsThe prevalence of risky opioid use, opioid use disorder, and related harms continue to rise among youth (adolescents and young adults age 15-25) in North America. With an increasing number of opioid overdoses, there remain significant barriers to care for youth with opioid use disorder, and there is an urgent need to expand evidence-based care for treatment of opioid use disorder among this population. Based on the extensive literature on treatment of opioid use disorder among adults, medicated-assisted treatment is likely to be an important or even essential component of treatment of opioid use disorder for most youth. In this article, we outline the current dilemmas and questions regarding the use of medication-assisted treatment among youth with opioid use disorder and propose some potential solutions based on the current evidence.
235Scopus© Citations 29 - PublicationA Case of Opioid Overdose and Subsequent Death After Medically Supervised Withdrawal: The Problematic Role of Rapid Tapers for Opioid Use DisorderBACKGROUND: Relapse to opioid use is common after rapid opioid withdrawal. As a result, short-term tapers of opioid agonist/partial agonist medications, such as methadone and buprenorphine/naloxone, are no longer recommended by recent clinical care guidelines for the management of opioid use disorder. Nonetheless, rapid tapers are still commonplace in medically supervised withdrawal settings.CASE SUMMARY: We report a case of an individual with opioid use disorder who was prescribed a rapid buprenorphine/naloxone taper in a medically supervised withdrawal facility and who had a subsequent opioid overdose and death after discharge. DISCUSSION:The fatal outcome in this case study underscores the potential severe harms associated with use of rapid tapers. Given the increased overdose risk, tapers should be avoided and continuing care strategies, such as maintenance pharmacotherapy, should be initiated in medically supervised withdrawal settings.
169Scopus© Citations 11 - PublicationEligibility for heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) among people who inject opioids and are living with HIV in a Canadian settingObjectives: A growing body of evidence supports the effectiveness of injectable diacetylmorphine (i.e., heroin) for individuals with treatment-refractory opioid use disorder. Despite this evidence, and the increasing toll of opioid-associated morbidity and mortality, it remains controversial in some settings. To investigate the possible contribution of heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) to HIV treatment-related outcomes, we sought to estimate the proportion and characteristics of HIV-positive people who inject opioids that might be eligible for HAT in Vancouver, Canada. Methods: We used data from a prospective cohort of people living with HIV who use illicit drugs in Vancouver, Canada. Using generalized estimating equations (GEE), we assessed the longitudinal relationships between eligibility for HAT, using criteria from previous clinical trials and guidelines, with behavioural, social, and clinical characteristics. Results: Between 2005 and 2014, 478 participants were included in these analyses, contributing 1927 person-years of observation. Of those, 94 (19.7%) met eligibility for HAT at least once during the study period. In a multivariable GEE model, after adjusting for clinical characteristics, being eligible for HAT was positively associated with homelessness, female gender, high-intensity illicit drug use, drug dealing and higher CD4 count. Conclusions: In our study of HIV-positive people with a history of injection drug use, approximately 20% of participants were eligible for HAT at ≥ 1 follow-up period. Eligibility was linked to risk factors for sub-optimal HIV/AIDS treatment outcomes, such as homelessness and involvement in the local illicit drug trade, suggesting that scaling-up access to HAT might contribute to achieving optimal HIV treatment in this setting.
283Scopus© Citations 5