buprenorphine and Pulmonary-Disease--Chronic-Obstructive

Opioid-related deaths are increasing globally. Respiratory complications of opioid use and underlying respiratory disease in people with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) are potential contributory factors. Individual variation in susceptibility to overdose is, however, incompletely understood. This study investigated the prevalence of respiratory depression (RD) in OUD treatment and compared this to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of equivalent severity. We also explored the contribution of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) dosage, and type, to the prevalence of RD.. Undetected RD is common in OUD cohorts receiving OAT and is significantly more severe than in opioid-naïve controls. RD can be assessed using simple objective measures. Further studies are required to determine the association between RD and overdose risk.

Topics: Analgesics, Opioid; Buprenorphine; Carbon Dioxide; Drug Overdose; Humans; Methadone; Opiate Substitution Treatment; Opioid-Related Disorders; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; Respiratory Insufficiency