Publication - Research and analysis

Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) implicated deaths and prescribing: evidence review

Published: 15 March 2022
From: Director-General Health and Social Care
Directorate: Population Health Directorate
Topic: Health and social care
ISBN: 9781804351833

This paper summarises current knowledge of trends around methadone and buprenorphine related deaths and changes to prescribing practice in Scotland.

Supporting documents

Footnotes

1. Clinical Guidelines on Drug Misuse and Dependence Update 2017 Independent Expert Working Group (2017). Available at: Drug misuse and dependence (publishing.service.gov.uk).

2. World Health Organization (2022). Available at: Access to Medicines and Health Products (who.int).

3. World Health Organization (2009). Available at: Guidelines for the Psychosocially Assisted Pharmacological Treatment of Opioid Dependence (who.int).

4. Scottish Government (2013). Available at: Delivering Recovery-Opioid Replacement Therapies in Scotland-Independent Expert Review (webarchive.org.uk).

5. Dickie et al. (2017). Available at: Drugs-related deaths narrative: keeping people safe (healthscotland.scot).

6. Delivering Recovery-Opioid Replacement Therapies in Scotland-Independent Expert Review (webarchive.org.uk).

7. Scottish Government (2013). Available at: Delivering Recovery-Opioid Replacement Therapies in Scotland-Independent Expert Review (webarchive.org.uk).

8. Banazadeh et al. (2009). Available at: Opiate dependents' experiences of the therapeutic relationship in methadone centers; a qualitative study - PubMed (nih.gov).

9. Scottish Government (2020). Available at: Coronavirus (COVID-19): opiate substitution treatment in prisons - Chief Medical Officer.

10. Scottish Government (2021). Available at: Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards: access, choice, support.

11. Ibid.

12. National Records of Scotland (2021). Available at: 2021 Drug related deaths in Scotland in 2020.

13. Information Services Division (ISD) (2018). Available at: The National Drug-Related Deaths Database (Scotland) Report (isdscotland.org).

14. These figures are based on deaths using the ONS wide definition given in table Y of the NRS report. Using the same definition there were 710 methadone deaths.

15. Based on estimates from PHS and published on ScotPHO (2021). Available at: Treatment for drug misuse - ScotPHO.

16. ISD (2018). Available at: The National Drug-Related Deaths Database (Scotland) Report.

17. ScotPHO (2021). Available at: Treatment for drug misuse - ScotPHO.

18. This is because these figures are aggregate estimates based on Community Health Index (CHI) capture rates, which can vary, and are therefore treated as management information.

19. ScotPHO (2021). Available at: Treatment for drug misuse - ScotPHO.

20. Scottish Government (2020). Available at: Minister for Public Health.

21. Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF) (2020). Available at: Guidance on contingency planning for people who use drugs and COVID-19.

22. Public Health Scotland (PHS) [2022]. Available at: COVID-19 wider impacts dashboard.

23. Mongan et al. (2020). Available at: Impact of COVID-19 on drug services in four countries: An evidence brief.

24. Madden et al. (2021). Available at: Treatment provider perceptions of take-home methadone regulation before and during COVID-19.

25. King et al. (2006). Available at: A 12-month controlled trial of methadone medical maintenance integrated into an adaptive treatment model.

26. Brothers et al. (2021). Available at: Changes in methadone program practices and fatal methadone overdose rates in Connecticut during COVID-19.

27. Scottish Government (2021). Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards: access, choice, support.