Abstract
Introduction and Aims
Opioids and benzodiazepines (O/BZD) are increasingly involved in drug overdose deaths in the USA. Expanding treatment capacity may reduce these deaths. Knowledge about co‐occurring O/BZD admissions compared to opioid admissions (opioid) is needed to plan this expansion.
Design and Methods
US treatment admissions to specialty facilities for 2011–2017 were analysed for trends and 2017 for group differences. Due to 1.9 million admissions in 2017, comparisons between O/BZD and opioid admissions were summarised as effect sizes. Additional analysis compared the administratively pre‐coded category ‘other opiates and synthetics’ to other opiates and synthetics/benzodiazepines admissions to control for possible similarity in drug source. Differences within O/BZD admissions by primary drug were explored.
Results
Although opioid admissions showed a steady increase over time (25.9% to 38.2%), O/BZD admissions showed increases until decline in 2017 (3.2% to 4.0%). In 2017 no factor reached moderate effect size (≥0.2) in group comparisons or within the O/BZD admissions. Heroin was self‐reported in 70% of both O/BZD and opioid admissions.
Discussion and Conclusions
No meaningful US national differences on data routinely collected were found for O/BZD compared to opioid admissions including the subgroup with other opiates and synthetics only. Efforts to expand existing opioid treatment in specialty treatments may help reduce opioid and O/BZD deaths. However, the analysis could not address whether changes in treatment would improve outcomes.