PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Access to overdose-reversing drugs declined during pandemic, researchers find

2021-05-14
(Press-News.org) Boston - While overall emergency department visits have decreased during the pandemic, nonfatal opioid overdose visits have more than doubled. However, few patients who overdosed on opioids had received a prescription for naloxone, a medication designed to block the effects of opioids on the brain and rapidly reverse opioid overdose.

In a new study, clinician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) analyzed naloxone prescription trends during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and compared them to trends in opioid prescriptions and to overall prescriptions. The team's findings, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum, suggest patents with opioid misuse disorders may be experiencing a dangerous decrease in access to the overdose-reversing drug.

"In March of 2020, we saw a sharp reduction in the average number of individuals filling naloxone prescriptions each week, which far exceeded the decline in the number of people filling prescriptions for any medication," said corresponding author Ashley O'Donohue, PhD, an economist in the Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at BIDMC. "And since March 2020, there's been no statistically significant recovery in naloxone prescriptions, indicating that the number of individuals filling naloxone prescriptions has remained low throughout the pandemic."

Using data from a national pharmacy insurance claims database that includes claims from national retail pharmacies, mail-order pharmacies and specialty pharmacies, O'Donoghue and colleagues analyzed weekly trends in the number of patients filling naloxone prescriptions, opioid prescriptions and all prescriptions between May 2019 and December 2020.

The team found that the number of individuals filling prescriptions for any medication fell by 14 percent in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the number of individuals filling opioid prescriptions fell by just 9 percent. However, the number of people filling naloxone prescriptions fell by more than 25 percent, and the number of individuals with Medicare and commercial coverage filling naloxone prescriptions declined by nearly a third. Meanwhile, among patients with Medicaid coverage or patients who paid in cash, there was no statistically significant change in the number of individuals filling naloxone prescriptions.

"Our study identifies an urgent gap in necessary access to lifesaving medication for individuals covered by Medicare and commercial insurance during the pandemic," said senior author Jennifer P. Stevens, MD, MS, Director of the Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at BIDMC. "Continuing to distribute naloxone in densely populated areas and through community-based organizations could help mitigate some of the reductions in naloxone distribution via pharmacies and could also reduce some of the increases in fatal opioid overdose is during the COVID-19 pandemic."

INFORMATION:

Co-authors included Tenzin Dechen, MPH; Timothy S. Anderson, MD, MAS; Noa Talmor; Atulita Punnamaraju, BA of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and Nayantara Biswas, MA, of Clark University.

This work was funded by an unrestricted philanthropic gift from Google.org. The authors report no further disclosures.

About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and consistently ranks as a national leader among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit http://www.bidmc.org.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a new health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,000 physicians and 35,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New research optimizes body's own immune system to fight cancer

2021-05-14
A groundbreaking study led by engineering and medical researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities shows how engineered immune cells used in new cancer therapies can overcome physical barriers to allow a patient's own immune system to fight tumors. The research could improve cancer therapies in the future for millions of people worldwide. The research is published in Nature Communications, a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal published by Nature Research. Instead of using chemicals or radiation, immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that helps the patient's immune system fight cancer. T cells are a type of white ...

Sensors developed at URI can identify threats at the molecular level

Sensors developed at URI can identify threats at the molecular level
2021-05-14
KINGSTON, R.I. - May 14, 2021 - We are frequently reminded of how vulnerable our health and safety are to threats from nature or those who wish to harm us. New sensors developed by Professor Otto Gregory, of the College of Engineering at the University of Rhode Island, and chemical engineering doctoral student Peter Ricci, are so powerful that they can detect threats at the molecular level, whether it's explosive materials, particles from a potentially deadly virus or illegal drugs entering the country. "This is potentially life-saving technology," said Gregory. "We have detected ...

Artificial intelligence identifies the tiger mosquito from photos in the Mosquito Alert

2021-05-14
Researchers from Mosquito Alert (who belong to CEAB-CSIC, CREAF and UPF) together with researchers from the University of Budapest have shown that an artificial intelligence algorithm is capable of recognizing the tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) in the photos sent by Mosquito Alert users. The results of the study published in Scientific Reports have been obtained by applying deep learning technology or deep learning, an aspect of artificial intelligence that seeks to emulate the way of learning of humans and that has previously been used in the health field to interpret ...

Few realistic scenarios left to limit global warming to 1.5°C

2021-05-14
Of the over 400 climate scenarios assessed in the 1.5°C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), only around 50 scenarios avoid significantly overshooting 1.5°C. Of those only around 20 make realistic assumptions on mitigation options, for instance the rate and scale of carbon removal from the atmosphere or extent of tree planting, a new study shows. All 20 scenarios need to pull at least one mitigation lever at "challenging" rather than "reasonable" levels, according to the analysis. Hence the world faces a high degree of risk of overstepping the 1.5°C limit. The realistic window for meeting the 1.5°C target is very rapidly closing. If all climate mitigation levers are pulled, it may still be possible ...

Researchers develop first-in-class inhibitors against key leukemia protein

Researchers develop first-in-class inhibitors against key leukemia protein
2021-05-14
The protein made by the ASH1L gene plays a key role in the development of acute leukemia, along with other diseases. The ASH1L protein, however, has been challenging to target therapeutically. Now a team of researchers led by Jolanta Grembecka, Ph.D., and Tomasz Cierpicki, Ph.D., from the University of Michigan has developed first-in-class small molecules to inhibit ASH1L's SET domain -- preventing critical molecular interactions in the development and progression of leukemia. The team's findings, which used fragment-based screening, followed by medicinal chemistry and a structure-based design, appear in Nature Communications. In mouse models of mixed lineage leukemia, the lead compound, known as AS-99, successfully reduced leukemia progression. "This ...

Emergence of a new heteronanostructure library

2021-05-14
Organizing functional objects in a complex, sophisticated architecture at the nanoscale can yield hybrid materials that tremendously outperform their solo objects, offering exciting routes towards a spectrum of applications. The development in synthetic chemistry over past decades has enabled a library of hybrid nanostructures, such as core-shell, patchy, dimer, and hierarchical/branched ones. Nevertheless, the material combinations of these non-van der Waals solids are largely limited by the rule of lattice-matched epitaxy. A research team led by professor YU Shuhong at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has reported a new class of heteronanostructures they ...

The mechanism of action of genes with high mutation frequency in cancer

2021-05-14
After the p53 tumour suppressor gene, the genes most frequently found mutated in cancer are those encoding two proteins of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodelling complex. This complex's function is to "accommodate" the histones that cover the DNA of the chromosomes so that the processes of transcription, DNA repair and replication or chromosome segregation can occur, as appropriate. A group from the University of Seville has demonstrated at CABIMER that the inactivation of BRG1, the factor responsible for the enzymatic activity of the SWI/SNF complexes, leads to high genetic instability, a characteristic common to the vast majority of tumours. This study's most important contribution is that it deciphers the mechanism by which this occurs. The SWI/SNF complex ...

Yoga and breathing exercises aid children with ADHD to focus

Yoga and breathing exercises aid children with ADHD to focus
2021-05-14
Yoga and breathing exercises have a positive effect on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). After special classes, children improve their attention, decrease hyperactivity, they do not get tired longer, they can engage in complex activities longer. This is the conclusion reached by psychologists at Ural Federal University who studied the effect of exercise on functions associated with voluntary regulation and control in 16 children with ADHD aged six to seven years. The results of the study are published in the journal Biological Psychiatry. "For children with ADHD, as a rule, the part of the brain that is responsible ...

Lockdown led to positive lifestyle changes in older people

Lockdown led to positive lifestyle changes in older people
2021-05-14
The COVID-19 lockdown was a catalyst for many older people to embrace technology, reconnect with friends and build new relationships with neighbours, according to University of Stirling research. Understanding the coping mechanisms adopted by some over 60s during the pandemic will play a key role in developing interventions to help tackle loneliness, isolation and wellbeing in the future. The study, led by the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport, surveyed 1,429 participants - 84 percent (1,198) of whom were over 60 - and found many had adapted to video conferencing technology to increase ...

Solar wind from the center of the Earth

2021-05-14
High-precision noble gas analyses indicate that solar wind particles from our primordial Sun were encased in the Earth's core over 4.5 billion years ago. Researchers from the Institute of Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University have concluded that the particles made their way into the overlying rock mantle over millions of years. The scientists found solar noble gases in an iron meteorite they studied. Because of their chemical composition, such meteorites are often used as natural models for the Earth's metallic core. The rare class of iron meteorites ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

‘Molecular shield’ placed in the nose may soon treat common hay fever trigger

Beetles under climate stress lay larger male eggs: Wolbachia infection drives adaptive reproduction strategy in response to rising temperature and CO₂

Groundbreaking quantum study puts wave-particle duality to work

Weekly injection could be life changing for Parkinson’s patients

Toxic metals linked to impaired growth in infants in Guatemala

Being consistently physically active in adulthood linked to 30–40% lower risk of death

Nerve pain drug gabapentin linked to increased dementia, cognitive impairment risks

Children’s social care involvement common to nearly third of UK mums who died during perinatal period

‘Support, not judgement’: Study explores links between children’s social care involvement and maternal deaths

Ethnic minority and poorer children more likely to die in intensive care

Major progress in fertility preservation after treatment for cancer of the lymphatic system

Fewer complications after additional ultrasound in pregnant women who feel less fetal movement

Environmental impact of common pesticides seriously underestimated

The Milky Way could be teeming with more satellite galaxies than previously thought

New study reveals surprising reproductive secrets of a cricket-hunting parasitoid fly

Media Tip Sheet: Symposia at ESA2025

NSF CAREER Award will power UVA engineer’s research to improve drug purification

Tiny parasitoid flies show how early-life competition shapes adult success

New coating for glass promises energy-saving windows

Green spaces boost children’s cognitive skills and strengthen family well-being

Ancient trees dying faster than expected in Eastern Oregon

Study findings help hone precision of proven CVD risk tool

Most patients with advanced melanoma who received pre-surgical immunotherapy remain alive and disease free four years later

Introducing BioEmu: A generative AI Model that enables high-speed and accurate prediction of protein structural ensembles

Replacing mutated microglia with healthy microglia halts progression of genetic neurological disease in mice and humans

New research shows how tropical plants manage rival insect tenants by giving them separate ‘flats’

Condo-style living helps keep the peace inside these ant plants

Climate change action could dramatically limit rising UK heatwave deaths

Annual heat-related deaths projected to increase significantly due to climate and population change

Researchers discover new way cells protect themselves from damage

[Press-News.org] Access to overdose-reversing drugs declined during pandemic, researchers find