An increase in per-patient naloxone requirements in an opioid epidemic

To the Editor, Prescription opioid overdose deaths have been on the rise since 1999, and deaths due to heroin overdoses increased dramatically beginning in 2010 [1,2]. The rapid increase in opioid overdoses and number of patients requiring treatment in our region suggests that hospitals should consider stocking larger quantities of naloxone and nasal atomizers. Improved prevention and treatment strategies are needed to mitigate deadly this outbreak. 1 R.A. Rudd, Increases in heroin overdose deaths-28 states, 2010 to 2012, Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 2014, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 849-854 2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), QuickStats: rates of deaths from drug poisoning and drug poisoning involving opioid analgesics-United States, 1999-2013, Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 2015, CDC 3 S.N. Lucyk, L.S. Nelson, Novel synthetic opioids: an opioid epidemic within an opioid epidemic, Ann Emerg Med, Vol. 69, 2016, 91-93 4 S. Nelson, Aug 25 2016, USA TODAY 5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Increases in fentanyl drug confiscations and fentanyl-related overdose fatalities, 2015, Health Alert Network, Available from:, accessed 4-22-17 6 R. Gupta, N.D. Shah, J.S. Ross, The rising price of naloxone-risks to efforts to stem overdose deaths, N Engl J Med, Vol. 375, Iss. 23, 2016, 2213-2215