Gabapentinoids are opioid drugs used for the treatment of neuralgia, anxiety disorder, and epilepsy. However, the long-term consumption of gabapentinoids is associated with an increased risk of mental health issues, like suicidal behavior and substance abuse. The objective of this study is to evaluate the associations between the consumption of gabapentinoids and the incidence of suicidal behavior, unintentional overdoses, injuries, road traffic incidents, and violent crime.
This is a population-based cohort study conducted on a total of 191,973 patients who took prescription gabapentinoids (pregabalin or gabapentin). The primary outcomes of the study were suicidal behavior, overdoses, road traffic incidents, head/body injuries, and arrests for local crime.
A total of 10,026 (5.2%) participants tried to commit suicide or died from suicide, 17,144 (8.9%) experienced an overdose, 70,522 (36.7%) experienced head/body injuries, 12,070 (6.3%) had a road traffic incident, and 7,984 (4.1%) were arrested for a violent crime. Separate drug examination indicated that pregabalin was associated with an increased hazard of all outcomes, whereas gabapentin was not associated with statistically significant hazards.
The research concluded that the consumption of gabapentinoids was associated with an increased incidence of suicidal behavior, unintentional overdoses, injuries, road traffic incidents, and violent crime. Pregabalin was associated with a higher incidence of hazards than gabapentin.
Ref: https://www.bmj.com/content/365/bmj.l2147
