Evaluating the impact of a national naloxone programme on ambulance attendance at overdose incidents: a controlled time-series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

It has been suggested that distributing naloxone to people who inject drugs (PWID) will lead to fewer attendances by emergency medical services at opioid-related overdose incidents if peer administration of naloxone was perceived to have resuscitated the overdose victim successfully. This study evaluated the impact of a national naloxone programme (NNP) on ambulance attendance at opioid-related overdose incidents throughout Scotland. Specifically, we aimed to answer the following research questions: is there evidence of an association between ambulance call-outs to opioid-related overdose incidents and the cumulative number of 'take-home naloxone' (THN) kits in issue; and is there evidence of an association between ambulance call-outs to opioid-related overdose

SUBMITTER: McAuley A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5248605 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature