Mailed opioid disposal kits led to 60 p.c of sufferers who had leftover opioid ache drugs correctly disposing of them after surgical procedures, in line with a brand new research by researchers on the Perelman Faculty of Drugs on the College of Pennsylvania. Simply 43 p.c of sufferers on this research who did not obtain the kits disposed of their opioids, however when in comparison with nationwide research, the mailed package group on this analysis appeared to double and even triple the beforehand seen rates of secure disposal. Pointing to a doubtlessly efficient methodology for slicing down on a supply of illicit opioids, this research was printed immediately in JAMA Community Open.
I used to be happy to see that such a easy, ‘snail mail’ strategy may change conduct and promote self-reported disposal. The opioid epidemic clearly continues to be entrance and heart for sufferers, and the issues with opioid use and misuse have gotten an actual half of the dialog between physicians and sufferers. I believe sufferers are extra conscious of the dangers and penalties of utilizing opioids and storing them of their properties.”
Anish Agarwal, MD, research’s lead writer, assistant professor of Emergency Drugs and chief wellness officer of the Division of Emergency Drugs at Penn Drugs
Leftover opioid drugs are a priority for his or her potential to be misused, both by the particular person they had been prescribed to or another person taking them. However simply throwing leftover drugs into the trash is probably not the most suitable choice.
“Throwing them within the trash could be harmful if tabs are ingested by children or animals, and there are environmental issues,” stated the research’s senior writer, M. Equipment Delgado, MD, an assistant professor of Emergency Drugs and Epidemiology and deputy director of the Penn Drugs Nudge Unit. “When secure disposal website will not be obtainable, the FDA recommends that sure high-risk drugs, together with opioids, be flushed down the bathroom as a result of their high-risk nature. Nevertheless, there are additionally environmental issues with doing this.”
Whereas secure disposal websites, like sure pharmacies, are the most suitable choice, sufferers typically do not use them as a result of they is probably not simply accessible or it takes additional effort. So Agarwal, Delgado, and colleagues determined to check whether or not an added layer of comfort – mailing secure disposal kits – would possibly make a distinction.
Going down between April 19 and June 1, 2021, the research consisted of 235 sufferers who accomplished it. All these individuals had an orthopedic or urologic process and had been prescribed opioid ache remedy for his or her restoration. Break up roughly in half, the standard process was utilized to 1 group: They had been texted directions to dispose of their unused opioids together with a hyperlink detailing the areas of native secure disposal factors to drop off their unused opioid tablets. The second group acquired the identical textual content message directions but additionally acquired mailed disposal kits 4 to seven days after their procedures.
Some nationwide research present that solely about 20 to 30 p.c of sufferers correctly dispose of their additional opioids, which signifies that the affect of the mailed kits – rising these numbers to 60 p.c – could possibly be even higher than noticed on this research. On prime of that, despite the fact that the mailed package group of sufferers solely consisted of 125 sufferers, the intervention resulted within the secure disposal of 480 unused tablets.
“It is a smaller research, however eradicating nearly 500 opioid tablets out of drugs cupboards and out of communities the place they may do hurt could possibly be impactful,” stated Agarwal. “One may think about that if scaled as much as the hundreds of surgical procedures which can be achieved per 12 months in our well being system and thousands and thousands achieved within the U.S., how this could possibly be extraordinarily impactful at scale.”
Mailing the kits will not be “prohibitively costly,” Agarwal stated, as they price as much as $2 every.
“We’re trying into methods to develop our attain and doubtlessly discover different distribution strategies,” Agarwal stated. “Essentially the most rewarding half of my job is that our analysis workforce additionally serves in key operational roles for the well being system’s opioid activity drive, in addition to different necessary initiatives to make sure we’re treating sufferers’ ache, optimizing prescribing based mostly on affected person suggestions, and making it simple to make evidence-based choices. It is nice to construct revolutionary approaches and consider them in real-time.”
The research matches right into a wider effort to curb the opioid epidemic on the well being system degree.
“In parallel to our efforts to optimize how we distribute these kits to sufferers, comparable to instantly handing them to them upon discharge or at prescription fill, we should additionally make efforts round shared decision-making and right-sizing prescriptions to fulfill affected person wants,” Delgado stated.
Kits used on this research had been offered by an in-kind donation from DisposeRx.
The research was supported by the Meals & Drug Administration (HHSF223201810209C).
Supply:
College of Pennsylvania Faculty of Drugs
Journal reference:
Agarwal, A.Ok., et al. (2022) Impact of Mailing an At-home Disposal Equipment on Unused Opioid Disposal After Surgery. JAMA Community Open. doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.10724.