Deaths from injection-related infections like endocarditis have increased among young people, likely due to the growth of injection drug use and stronger, shorter-acting fentanyl. While medications for opioid use disorder reduce the risk of death, initiating and retaining patients on these life-saving treatments is difficult. Researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) recently discovered that medications for opioid use disorder following hospitalizations for injection-related infections are still underused in Massachusetts even though they improve outcomes.
The findings were published in JAMA Network Open on July 24, 2024. Our findings underscore a critical need for physicians to proactively engage and support patients with evidence-based treatments for opioid use disorder whenever they present to the hospital including for serious injection-related infections." Simeon Kimmel, MD, first author on the paper and attending physician in general internal medicine and infectious diseases at BMC The team found that the number of patients receiving medications for opioid use disorder rose after hospitalization for injection-related infections, though there were disparities in who received treatment during hospitalization and retention remained difficult.
The researchers used data from the Massachusetts Public Health Data Warehouse to assess the relationship between serious injection-related infections -- endocarditis, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, epidural abscess, or bloodstream .