Across the study period, the demographic characteristics of 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%). Data on 62,652 overdose deaths that occurred during 2019–2020 in the 24 jurisdictions were entered in SUDORS; among 58,362 deaths with documented toxicology results, a total of 5,687 (9.7%) had gabapentin detected on postmortem toxicology. Gabapentin was found at very high frequency in accidental mixed drug fatalities. Gabapentin concentrations were generally within the normal therapeutic range (2-20 μg/mL). It is unknown whether a synergistic effect with opioids may contribute to central respiratory depression. 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. With great interest we read the article of Tardelli et al. about the perceived increase of overdose-deaths “due to” non-benzodiazepine hypnotics including gabapentinoids (GPT) over the last two decades extrapolated from USA National Center for Health Statistics data.1 We have not seen comparable phenomena in Germany, despite the highest Western-European rate of non-medical GPT-use.2 German Gabapentin-involved overdose deaths doubled in Q2 2020 compared to Q1 2019, the CDC reports. What do you know, and maybe not know, about the troubling trend? 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. 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. We observed 4091 T42.6/T42.7 overdoses in those same state-years, implying that 73% of these deaths were gabapentin. More reliable methods are available using toxicology reports ( Slavova et al., 2018 ), though typically only available for specific jurisdictions and time periods ( Hargrove et al., 2018 , Tharp et al., 2019 ). 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. 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. Nonetheless, some people misuse gabapentin to enhance the effects of other substances. 7 When gabapentin is used with opiates or alcohol, it may cause overdose and even death. When taken alone or combined with other medications, gabapentin may induce respiratory depression. Gabapentin likely contributed to 5% of deaths from overdose with any substance in 2019 to 2020, according to a new study. 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-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. 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. Gabapentin Increasingly Implicated in Overdose Deaths The percentage of gabapentin-positive overdose deaths varied significantly among jurisdictions: 4% in Northeast Tennessee, 7% in Maricopa County, 15% in West Virginia, 20% in North Carolina, and 41% in Kentucky (p < 0.0001). Of the 58,362 overdose deaths with toxicology results in 2019 and 2020, 5,687 (9.7%) showed positive results for gabapentin. Gabapentin was believed to be a factor in 2,975 of these 5,687 deaths (52.3%). An overwhelming majority of these deaths — around 90% — also involved opioids like fentanyl. 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.
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