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August 08, 2019

VHA Opioid Study on Veteran Overdoses Released

A new study has found that deaths of veterans due to opioid overdoses rose between 2010 and 2016.  During the same period, prescriptions of opioids declined among veteran patients who died from all categories of opioid overdose.  By 2016, only a minority of veterans who died from opioid overdose received an opioid analgesic from the VHA within 3 months of overdose. This conclusion led the authors to recommend extending prevention efforts beyond the group of veterans receiving opioid prescriptions.