Between 2019 and 2020, gabapentin was implicated in one in 10 US overdose deaths. Gabapentin overdose can be successfully treated with prompt medical attention. Though gabapentin has risks, stopping gabapentin use abruptly can lead to serious withdrawal symptoms. Illicit opioid-involved deaths accounted for 56.8% of overdose deaths with gabapentin detected in the first quarter of 2019 and 69.2% in the last quarter of 2020; this increase was largely driven by illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs. However, people taking gabapentin should be aware that it does have particularly unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, even after taking it for a relatively short amount of time and at low doses. Symptoms of Gabapentin Overdose. Most side effects of a gabapentin overdose will be related to an overall deceleration of the body’s systems. Signs and Symptoms of Gabapentin Overdose. A gabapentin overdose can be dangerous or even deadly. Some factors can increase the risk of a fatal overdose, such as taking several substances at once. Gabapentin overdose symptoms can include: Drowsiness; Movement difficulties; Dizziness; Nausea or vomiting; Rapid heartbeat; Low blood pressure Gabapentin-involved deaths occurred in 2975 of 5687 decedents (52.3%) with a positive gabapentin test result. Most gabapentin-involved overdose deaths, 83.2%, occurred among non-Hispanic White persons. More than half of gabapentin-involved deaths, 52.2%, occurred among persons aged 35 to 54 years. Common symptoms of gabapentin overdose are drowsiness, fast heartbeat, dizziness, low blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, and impaired coordination. In severe cases, lethargy, coma, and death may occur. decedents remained largely similar. Most gabapentin-involved overdose deaths occurred among non-Hispanic White persons (83.2%) and persons aged 35–54 years (52.2%); gabapentin-involved overdose deaths occurred with approximately equal frequency among men (49.7%) and women (50.3%). During the second quarter of 2020, the number of deaths Abstract. From 2000 to 2014, drug overdose deaths increased 137% in the United States, and 61% of these deaths included some form of opiate. The vast majority of opiate-related drug fatalities include multiple drugs, although there is scant data quantitatively describing the exact drugs that contribute to deaths due to multiple drugs. Only 19 deaths involving gabapentin were identified as possible suicides during the five-year study period, but there were thousands of gabapentin-related calls each year coded as attempted suicides — including over 10,000 calls in 2017 alone. Postmortem toxicology tests detected gabapentin in almost 1 in 10 US overdose deaths between 2019 and 2020. In about half of the cases, a medical examiner or coroner ruled the drug was a cause of the death, according to a report from the CDC’s Division of Overdose Prevention. The first death with gabapentin detected occurred in 2004, and with pregabalin in 2006. The number of deaths following gabapentinoid use has increased (Figure 1A): 8.9% of all NPSAD reports in 2014 detected a gabapentinoid, rising to 32.3% in 2020. He had ingested up to 41 400mg of gabapentin as evidenced by a bottle of 600mg gabapentin tablets filled one-day prior with 69 missing pills. After confirmation of brain death, mechanical ventilation was terminated. He died due to gabapentin overdose, asystole and respiratory arrest. The gabapentin levels were not checked. Gabapentin Increasingly Implicated in Overdose Deaths Most gabapentin-involved overdose deaths, 83.2%, occurred among non-Hispanic White persons. More than half of gabapentin-involved deaths, 52.2%, occurred among persons aged 35 to 54 years. The State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System statistics from 23 states and the District of Columbia now indicate that GBP may be playing a larger role in overdose deaths in the United States. About 10% of all instances with test results available, or 5687 overdose deaths between 2019 and 2020, had toxicology tests that revealed GBP use. The demographics of these overdose deaths are counter to many trends in opioid-involved overdose deaths. Despite higher opioid-involved overdose death rates overall ( Hedegaard et al., 2022 ), men have typically had lower rates of overdoses deaths involving opioids and gabapentinoids/Z-drugs than women. A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that between 2019 and 2020, coroners and medical examiners detected gabapentin in 5687, or almost 10%, of the 58 362 overdose deaths in 23 states and the District of Columbia that had available toxicology results. Individuals who died from a gabapentin-related overdose were most likely to be non-Hispanic white (83%), between the ages of 35 and 54 years (52%), with men and women equally affected. Deaths hit a peak in the second quarter of 2020, but remained high through the rest of the study period. A gabapentin overdose is rare, but it is possible. The likelihood of an overdose increases when you abuse gabapentin with other drugs like opioids and alcohol. If you or someone you know is experiencing a gabapentin overdose, seek medical help immediately. In cases in which gabapentin was determined to be a cause of death, the blood concentrations ranged from 1.1 to 134.0 mg/L. Persons who died of a gabapentin-related drug death were prescribed the drug legitimately 91.4% of the time, with 84.2% of those also having a known prior history of abuse or misuse of prescription medications.
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