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Australia reschedules naloxone for opioid overdose
Author(s) -
Lenton Simon R,
Dietze Paul M,
Jauncey Marianne
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja15.01181
Subject(s) - (+) naloxone , citation , library science , psychology , medicine , opioid , computer science , receptor
With much recent media focus on problems due to crystalline methamphetamine use in Australia, few may be aware that deaths from opioid overdose have been increasing over recent years. Following the “heroin drought” of late 2000, accidental deaths from heroin and other opioids among Australians aged 15e54 years dropped from 1116 deaths in 1999 (10.19 deaths per 100 000 population) to 386 deaths in 2001 (3.46 deaths per 100 000 population). However, opioid-related deaths have been rising steadily since 2007 — the most recent confirmed data indicate that 617 Australians aged 15e54 years died in 2011 (4.95 deaths per 100 000 population). Estimates for 2012 and 2013 suggest that this trend continues.