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Opioid Overdoses Related to Neurocognitive Impairment
There is an association between non-fatal opioid overdoses and brain injuries/neurocognitive impairments, according to a systematic review summarizing research on opioid-related overdoses.
The findings were published in Drug and Alcohol Dependance.
“Non-fatal opioid-related overdoses have increased significantly over the past two decades and there have been increasing reports of brain injuries and/or neurocognitive impairments following overdose events,” wrote Erin L Winstanley, PhD, Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA, and co-researchers.
There is little preclinical research on the association between opioid overdose and brain injury in humans. Researchers aimed to compile existing research on brain injuries and cognitive impairments following non-fatal opioid overdose.
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A total of 3099 articles were identified using PubMed, Web of Science, Ovid MEDLINE, and PsyINFO, of which 79 met the inclusion criteria for this review. These articles included patients aged 18 and older, were published in English, used no animal testing, and measured neurocognitive impairments caused by opioid overdose. All were published between 1973 and 2020.
In total, 6 journal articles were case-control studies, 18 were case series, 11 were cohort studies, and 44 were case reports. About 65% of the studies shared brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results and 27.8% shared neuropsychological test results.
Researchers reported that the existing publications suggest an association between brain injuries, neurocognitive impairments, and opioid overdose.
“Respiratory depression is a defining characteristic of opioid overdose and prolonged cerebral hypoxia may cause brain injuries and/or neurocognitive impairments,” concluded Dr Winstanley et al. “The onset, characteristics, and duration of such injuries is variable and additional research is needed to understand their clinical implications.”
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