Risk to heroin users of polydrug use of pregabalin or gabapentin -

Risk to heroin users of polydrug use of pregabalin or gabapentin
Information type: Other primary research
Source: Addiction
Specialities: Mental health and illness
Summary
Gabapentoid (GB) scripts increased ~24%/year from 1m in 2004 to 10.5m in 2015, and number of deaths involving GBs increased from <1/year prior to 2009 to 137 in 2015; 79% of deaths also involved opioids. Increase in deaths was correlated highly with increase in GB prescribing.
UKMi comment
In interviews conducted with 30 heroin users, the combination of opioids with gabapentin or pregabalin potentially increases the risk of acute overdose death through either reversal of tolerance or an additive effect of the drugs to depress respiration. They described pregabalin as ‘easy to obtain.’
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