Timely Topics: Opioid Crisis

Presentation by the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia

Report from the Canadian Mental Health Association focusing on creation of a harm reduction framework to prevent opioid-related deaths among Canadians afflicted with mental health issues.

Rapid response report from CADTH

Report produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office on Women's Health (OWH), examining the prevention, treatment, and recovery issues for women who misuse, have use disorders, and/or overdose on opioids

Public Health Agency of Canada, June 2021.
This update includes data on deaths, hospitalizations and Emergency Medical Services responses involving opioids and/or stimulants between January 2016 and December 2020, where available.

Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2018

CAMH, 2021.

British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, 2022.

AHS Provincial Clinical Knowledge Topic, 2018.

CMAJ, 2018.

Canadian Paediatric Society, 2018.

National Pain Centre

Includes guidelines for treatment of opioid use in youth and pregnant women.

BMJ 2018;362:k3207

Harm Reduction Journal 2018;15:46

Harm Reduction Journal 2017;14:28

Curr Addict Rep 2018;5:454

Presentation by Sean Court, Director, Strategic Policy Branch, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care

Action plan aimed at preventing and mitigating unintentional opioid overdoses and deaths among you and adults in Prince Edward Island.

This review provides a national summary of what is currently known about the Canadian opioid crisis with respect to opioid-related deaths and harms and potential risk factors as of December 2017.

This analysis used data from the Hospital Morbidity Database and the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System to determine the number of opioid poisoning hospitalizations and emergency department visits in Canada.

Ontario delisted high-strength fentanyl, hydromorphone and morphine from the public drug formulary for non-palliative care prescribers on 31 January, 2017. Our aim is to assess the early impact of this policy on prescribing patterns and to examine whether this impact varied by prescriber type, opioid type and opioid strength.