When Epidemics Collide: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the Opioid Crisis

Ann Intern Med. 2020 Jul 7;173(1):59-60. doi: 10.7326/M20-1210. Epub 2020 Apr 2.

Abstract

COVID-19 could cause infection in persons with opioid use disorder, increase opioid overdose rates, reverse system-level gains in expanding access to medication for opioid use disorder, halt critical research, and prevent exacting legal reparations against opioid manufacturers. The authors call for urgent action to counteract these risks.

Keywords: COVID-19; Drug administration; Drug delivery; Drug therapy; Health care; Hospital medicine; Opioid addiction; Opioids; Research laboratories; Telemedicine.

Publication types

  • Editorial

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus*
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / complications
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
  • Disease Transmission, Infectious / prevention & control*
  • Humans
  • Opioid Epidemic / statistics & numerical data*
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / complications*
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / epidemiology
  • Opioid-Related Disorders / therapy
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / complications
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Telemedicine / methods*
  • United States / epidemiology