Surge in Adverse Events for Prescription Opioids and Opioid Overdose Treatments during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The opioid epidemic is one of the most pressing public health issues of our time, with hundreds of deaths daily due to opioid overdose. This research investigates the number of reported adverse events related to the use of prescription opioids and opioid overdose treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic, lending further insight into the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the opioid epidemic. We hypothesized that adverse events for both prescription opioids and opioid overdose treatments rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to isolation and lack of access to healthcare services. Using data from the Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), we analyzed the number of adverse drug events (ADE) in the years 2020 and 2021 compared to 2019, specifically for the medications Naloxone(G), Naloxone Hydrochloride(G), Oxycodone(G), Oxycodone Hydrochloride(G), and Oxycontin(P). We also analyzed the most commonly reported types of adverse reactions and the age of the reporters. The data reveals an alarming spike in the number of ADEs attributed to Naloxone(G) from 2019 to 2020, increasing by 148% and then another 29% in 2021. Similarly, the number of ADEs reported for Naloxone Hydrochloride(G) nearly rose four-fold from 66 to 246. For the prescription opioid Oxycodone(G), there was a 78% increase in ADEs from 2019 to 2020. More concerningly, there was a 434% spike in the number of ADEs for Oxycodone Hydrochloride(G) and more than thirteen-fold the number of cases in 2020 than 2019 for Oxycontin(P). Finally, we found the most commonly reported reactions were "overdose,” "drug dependence,” "drug withdrawal syndrome,” and "drug abuse”;the 18–64-year-old age group reported the majority of the cases. These results highlight the need to increase focus on the opioid epidemic, specifically monitoring the use of prescription opioids. © 2022, Avestia Publishing. All rights reserved.