Home > Who is using take-home naloxone? An examination of supersavers.

Eide, Desiree and Lobmaier, Philipp and Clausen, Thomas (2022) Who is using take-home naloxone? An examination of supersavers. Harm Reduction Journal, 19, (1), p. 65. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-022-00647-z.

External website: https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/art...

BACKGROUND
As the opioid overdose crisis persists and take-home naloxone (THN) programmes expand, it is important that the intervention is targeted towards those most likely to use it. We examined THN program participants to 1) describe those that return for refills, specifically those that reported multiple use (supersavers), and 2) to examine what rescuer characteristics were associated with higher rates of THN use.

METHODS
This study included a cohort of consenting THN recipients from June 2014-June 2021 who completed initial and refill questionnaires from a widespread program in Norway. Age, gender, number of witnessed and experienced overdoses were assessed for associations with higher reported rates of THN use. 'Supersavers' reported 3 or more THN uses.

RESULTS
A total of 1054 participants returned for a THN refill during the study period. Of these, 558 reported their last THN to have been used on an overdose. Supersavers (those that reported 3 or more THN uses) were younger, primarily reported current opioid use, and had witnessed higher rates of overdoses at the time of initial training when compared to non-supersavers (those that reported 0-2 THN uses).

CONCLUSIONS
THN programs should continue to emphasize and prioritize THN for people actively using drugs, particularly those who have witnessed overdoses previously.


Item Type
Article
Publication Type
International, Open Access, Article
Drug Type
Opioid
Intervention Type
Prevention, Harm reduction
Date
18 June 2022
Identification #
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-022-00647-z
Page Range
p. 65
Publisher
BioMed Central
Volume
19
Number
1
EndNote

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