Recent Overdose Experiences in a Community Sample of Military Veterans Who Use Opioids

Abstract

Rising rates of overdose mortality underscore the importance of understanding and preventing overdose. We developed a seven-item scale for the assessment of nonfatal opioid-related overdose experiences, adding items on others’ perceptions of whether the participant had overdosed and whether an intervention was attempted to frequently used criteria. We administered the scale to 240 primarily male and minority veterans, recruited using venue-based and chain-referral sampling, who separated from the military post-9/11 and reported current opioid use. The items were internally consistent, and correlated well with overdose risk behaviors (r = .13–.45). The new scale detected overdose events in a significantly higher proportion of participants (36.5%) than that using either self-report criterion (18.2%) or difficulty breathing and losing consciousness criteria (23.8%). These experiences or perceptions should be investigated to inform and better tailor the development of more effective overdose prevention and response programs.

Parenting and childcare responsibilities, harm reduction service engagement, and opioid overdose among women and men who use illicit opioids in New York City

“…Lifetime opioid overdose was defined as self-report of having ever experienced an overdose involving opioids. Participants also reported if they had experienced an opioid overdose events in the past 30 days, including thinking they had overdosed, people were concerned about how druggedsedated they were, difficulty breathing, fell down while using, lost consciousness, required medical attention, andor was administered naloxone; those reporting at least one of these were considered to have had an overdose experience in the past month ( Pouget et al, 2017 ).…”

U.S. Military veterans and the opioid overdose crisis: a review of risk factors and prevention efforts

“…First, much of the scientific knowledge about health risks among veterans who use opioids comes from VA samples, which represent less than half of all military veterans [ 96 ] at most. Although it is widely believed that non-VA veterans are more likely to be employed and have private insurance, veterans who do not have VA access or choose not to use VA benefits also include many of those most historically disadvantaged and at greatest risk of opioid-related harm, including members of racial and ethnic minorities and those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds [ 97–99 ]. “Other than honorable” discharges for active duty personnel with alcohol or substance use issues have excluded significant numbers of veterans from VA care, though changes since 2017 in Public Health Law 115-141 have resulted in more service-connection for veterans with mental health concerns.…”

Naloxone Protection, Social Support, Network Characteristics, and Overdose Experiences Among a Cohort of People Who Use Illicit Opioids in New York City

“…Past-month indicators of opioid-related overdose were drawn from the Recent Overdose Experience Scale (RODES) [23]. Empirically-derived estimates suggest that less than 5% of heroin-related overdoses are fatal [24,25] making non-fatal overdoses a critical outcome for research, particularly where sample size is constrained.…”