Work

173. Association Between Venlafaxine Use and the Risk of Substance Withdrawal in Patients With Nonopioid Substance Use

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Background Appropriate treatments for nonopioid substance use are currently unavailable. Venlafaxine may reduce nonopioid substance withdrawal, but the effects have not been evaluated. Aims & Objectives To investigate the association between venlafaxine use and the risk of nonopioid substance withdrawal. Method We linked Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database and the Taiwan Illicit Drug Issue Database from January 2012 to December 2019. We used a case-case-time-control study involving a case-crossover analysis and a control-crossover analysis consisting of future cases. The outcomes were substance withdrawal and all-cause mortality. For each individual, venlafaxine use during the hazard period (day −8 to −67 before the outcome) was compared with that during the 60-day reference period (between days −248 and −307). Conditional logistic regression was used to determine odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals to evaluate the associations between outcome events and the use of venlafaxine. Results The participants’ average age on the index date was 39.5 years (standard deviation 8.7), with 84.1% men and 88.3% having low income. Venlafaxine was significantly associated with a 0.35-fold decreased risk of substance withdrawal (95% confidence interval 0.13 to 0.96). However, we found no association between the recent use of venlafaxine and all-cause mortality (1.08, 0.55 to 2.14). The results remained consistent throughout a series of sensitivity analyses, including various lengths of time for hazard or reference periods or restricting patients with stimulant use only. Discussion & Conclusions This study provides strong ground for clinicians to consider the use of venlafaxine to reduce patient substance withdrawal.

Source: The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology

DOI: 10.1093/ijnp/pyaf052.170