opioids

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September 16, 2025

Forgotten opioid has resurfaced as lethal street drug

Originally developed in the 1950s but never approved for clinical use, these substances are over 20 times more potent than fentanyl and hundreds to thousands of times more potent than morphine.

By Craig Boerner
September 10, 2025

Study reveals new evidence, cost savings for common treatments for opioid use disorder in mothers and infants

Researchers found that while established medications for opioid use disorder in mothers are both superior and cost saving compared to alternative treatment pathways, buprenorphine produced the greatest health gains and cost savings for mothers and infants.

By Jake Lowary
April 21, 2025

Neurodevelopmental care initiative supports infants and young children exposed to opioids in utero

SHINE program offers neurodevelopmental care embedded within a medical home for infants and young children with neonatal opioid exposures.

By Jessica Pasley
March 5, 2025

Team finds a better way to identify newborns at risk for opioid withdrawal

By 2017, on the back of the opioid crisis, the rate of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome in the U.S. was estimated to have reached 7.3 per 1000 deliveries. Meanwhile, many newborns exposed to opioids in utero never develop the syndrome and must undergo needless monitoring in the hospital after birth.

By Paul Govern
October 12, 2023

More work needed on plans of safe care for infants affected by maternal substance use

Vanderbilt research found that there is variability in practice for infants affected by maternal substance use driven by vague policy, challenges of cross-system collaboration and a lack of general knowledge about substance use disorder.

By Nancy Humphrey
August 24, 2023

Predicting postop opioid use

VUMC study finds that preoperative patient characteristics can predict daily opioid use at six months after surgery, suggesting opportunities for development of electronic risk-stratification algorithms.

By Paul Govern
August 7, 2023

Effective medications for opioid use disorder rarely used

Vanderbilt research shows that most individuals diagnosed with opioid use disorder are not on recommended medications and even fewer remain in care.
By Craig Boerner
September 14, 2022

Complementary research, resources, policies improve outcomes for those with substance use disorders: panel

A panel of experts on opioid use disorder (OUD) recently discussed the importance of building recovery ecosystems or networks of resources to respond to the opioid epidemic.
By Jill Clendening
July 21, 2022

Difficulty swallowing linked to chronic opioid use: study

Vanderbilt researchers found that chronic use of opioid painkillers like hydrocodone and oxycodone significantly increases the risk of dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing.
By Bill Snyder
June 9, 2022

Filling multiple opioid prescriptions after childbirth associated with maternal death risk

In a new study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers, women who filled two or more prescriptions for opioids after childbirth faced a 46% greater risk of death than women who did not.
By Jake Lowary
May 23, 2022

Pushing (anti-overdose) drugs

An automated alert to encourage clinicians to coprescribe naloxone for patients at risk of opioid overdose increased naloxone prescriptions per opioid prescription 16-fold.
By Paul Govern
January 4, 2022

Opioid use disorder treatment access increases in areas with large Medicaid population

By Jill Clendening
October 19, 2021

Artificial intelligence predicts opioid overdose in Tennessee

Researchers at Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Department of Health have developed 30-day predictive models for fatal and non-fatal opioid-related overdose among patients receiving opioid prescriptions in the state.
By Paul Govern
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