Association of Opioid Agonist Treatment With All-Cause Mortality and Specific Causes of Death Among People With Opioid Dependence

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Abstract
Opioid dependence is increasing in many countries, particularly in North America, where there have been substantial increases in opioid-related health harms, specifically overdose.1,2 In the US during the COVID-19 pandemic, opioid overdoses have increased in some states by up to 30% in 2020 compared with those in 2019.3 Population-level increases in “deaths of despair,” including suicides, injuries, and liver disease, have also been observed.4 People with opioid dependence are at an elevated risk of a range of causes of death beyond deaths of despair, including other acute and systemic causes such as unintentional opioid and suicide-related death, and all liver-related, alcohol-related, cancer-related, chronic respiratory–related, digestive-related, HIV-related, influenza- and pneumonia-related, and injection-related injuries.2,5

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