Risk of discharge against medical advice among hospital inpatients with a history of opioid agonist therapy in New South Wales, Australia: A cohort study and nested crossover-cohort analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

People who use illicit opioids have high rates of hospital admission. We aimed to measure the risk of discharge against medical advice among inpatients with a history of opioid agonist therapy (OAT), and test whether OAT is associated with lower risk of discharge against medical advice.

Methods

We conducted a cohort study of patients admitted to hospital in an emergency between 1 August 2001 and 30 April 2018 in New South Wales, Australia. All patients had a previous episode of OAT in the community. The main outcome was discharge against medical advice, and the main exposure was whether patients had an active OAT permit at the time of admission.

Results

14,035/116,957 admissions (12 %) ended in discharge against medical advice. Admissions during periods of

SUBMITTER: Lewer D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7736124 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature