Study: Only half of patients with serious injection‐related infections got MOUD

One year after more than 8,700 patients were hospitalized for a serious injection‐related infection, only half of them had received medication for an opioid use disorder (MOUD), according to a study published in JAMA Network Open last week. Such infections have a high morbidity and mortality rate, and MOUD could prevent them from recurring, as well as treat the root cause of the problem: opioid addiction. The researchers concluded that treatment with MOUD before an infection would be helpful, as would initiating MOUD treatment while a patient is in the hospital being treated for the skin infection.