Characterization of patients declining to participate in opioid overdose prevention clinical research in an emergency department setting.

purposeEmergency Departments (ED) are important settings for initiating care following a non-fatal opioid overdose (NFOO). While ED-based interventions, including peer-led recovery support and initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), are promising methods for reducing subsequent overdoses and mortality, randomized trials of ED-based overdose prevention or treatment- linkage interventions demonstrate that a substantial proportion of patients decline participation. The current secondary analysis is designed to characterize individuals who declined to participate in one such study.

methodsData were used from the Peer Intervention to Link Overdose Survivors to Treatment (PILOT) trial, which was a multi-site study conducted in three US-based EDs that randomized participants to a 6-month peer-led overdose prevention intervention or treatment as usual in the ED. Demographics and clinical characteristics of those enrolled in PILOT (n = 150) were compared to those who declined to participate but completed a screening exit survey (ScrES; n = 46).

resultsAmong those who declined study participation, 76% had experienced a prior overdose preceding the current overdose that brought them into the ED (58.7% within the past 72 h), 56.5% were not currently engaged in substance use treatment and among those, 65.4% expressed a desire for treatment. Odds of declining study participation decreased with age by 6% per year (OR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.9, 0.99); those with any college experience had odds of declining at 3 times greater than those without a high school diploma (OR = 3.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 10.1). Those without health insurance had odds of declining nearly 3 times those with insurance (OR = 2.9, 95% CI: 1.2, 7.0). Frequently cited reasons for declining were a desire to leave the ED or feeling unwell (39.1%), lack of interest in research (30.4%) and a belief the intervention would not be helpful (17.4%).

conclusionsResults from this analysis characterize ED patients declining to participate in peer-led overdose prevention research with the goals of enhancing future recruitment strategies and enrolling more representative samples to reduce subsequent overdoses. Future work is needed to determine how to better engage priority populations at critical touch points, while ensuring that interventions are flexible, patient-centered, and potentially offer remote access.