Tuesday, September 6, 2016

PubMed Update August 2016

A robust 20 papers this month. There are some excellent manuscripts this month, including several on fentanyl. I want to draw particular attention to a few papers that will be important reads for some of you: #1 addresses concurrent use of methamphetamine with heroin, #12 explores different “types” of opioid overdose, #17 reviews the foundational papers upon which much overdose research/knowledge today is based, and #19 compares deaths due to heroin to those due to prescription opioids.

Meacham MC, Strathdee SA, Rangel G, Armenta RF, Gaines TL, Garfein RS.
J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2016 Sep;77(5):774-81.
Comments: Really interesting results with regard to methamphetamine – co-use of methamphetamine increased overdose risk in San Diego but not Tijuana, suggesting that risk may have been behavioral rather than pharmacologic.

Mitchell KD, Higgins LJ.
J Addict Nurs. 2016 Jul-Sep;27(3):160-79. doi: 10.1097/JAN.0000000000000132.
Comments: Review of naloxone literature with an eye toward how it influences nursing.

Al-Tayyib AA, Koester S, Riggs P.
Addict Behav. 2016 Aug 19. pii: S0306-4603(16)30296-9. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.08.016. [Epub ahead of print]
Comments: Those who initiated injection with prescription opioids were higher risk than those who started with heroin in the Denver Colorado’s NHBS cohort.

Kirane H, Ketteringham M, Bereket S, Dima R, Basta A, Mendoza S, Hansen H.
J Subst Abuse Treat. 2016 Oct;69:44-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jsat.2016.07.005. Epub 2016 Jul 18.
Comments: Investigators asked patients and providers how they thought things *would* change if they gave/received naloxone kits and found quite a few thought use would increase. In contrast, looking at what “did” happen suggests the opposite (see next month’s PubMed Update).