Hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder who received higher doses of short-acting opioids were less likely to leave the hospital within 72 hours, according to a study published June 16 in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers from the University of California in San Francisco examined 669 hospitalizations representing 520 unique patients at an urban safety-net hospital in San Francisco between Feb. 7 and Dec. 31, 2024. All patients had opioid use disorder and received short-acting opioids through an opioid withdrawal order set in the EHR.
Here are four things to know:
- A total of 92 hospitalizations, or 13.8%, resulted in patient-directed discharge within 72 hours.
- In the adjusted analysis, each doubling of a patient’s daily dose of short-acting opioids was associated with an 8% reduction in the hazard of early patient-directed discharge.
- The study found no statistically significant association between the time to first dose of a short-acting opioid and patient-directed discharge within 72 hours.
- The researchers concluded that treatment of opioid withdrawal with short-acting opioids showed a dose-dependent association with reduced risk of early patient-directed discharge and said the findings support using short-acting opioids alongside methadone and buprenorphine for inpatient treatment of opioid withdrawal.
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