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• Posted May 8, 2026

Opioid OD Survivors Have Triple Rate Of Repeat Overdoses Than Previously Estimated

People hospitalized for opioid overdose have a higher rate of subsequent OD than previously thought, a new study says.

Previously, it was estimated that about 6% of people who survived an opioid overdose wound up with a repeat overdose during the following year.

But new results indicate that 21% experience a repeat OD after an emergency department visit for opioid overdose, researchers reported May 7 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Patients’ risk of death also increased alongside their number of additional overdoses, the study found.

Increased use of powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl are fueling the rising risk of repeat overdose, researchers said.

“Most older studies were conducted before the introduction of fentanyl into the unregulated drug supply,” lead researcher Robert Kleinman said in a news release. Kleinman is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto in Canada.

“The current fentanyl supply is highly toxic and associated with a greater risk of overdose or death,” he said.

For the new study, researchers tracked nearly 28,500 opioid overdose survivors treated in Ontario, Canada ERs between 2017 and 2023.

Within 30 days, 2% of those treated for opioid overdose had died and 6% had experienced another overdose, researchers found.

After a year, 9% had died and 21% suffered a repeat overdose, the data showed.

“These elevated risks after leaving the hospital highlight the importance of ensuring that interventions such as opioid agonist treatments and take-home naloxone are available and accessible for opioid overdose survivors,” Kleinman said.

Worse, these numbers are likely underestimates, given that researchers couldn’t track opioid overdoses that didn’t result in an ER visit. More research is needed to figure out the true risk of death and repeat overdose, researchers said.

“The elevated mortality risk observed in this study is highly concerning,” senior researcher Paul Kurdyak said in a news release. Kurdyak is a senior scientist with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto.

“The development of evidence-based care pathways for when individuals with opioid use disorders show up to an Emergency Department with an overdose or in withdrawal may help to both reduce the high mortality rate and help people access treatment,” he added.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the opioid overdose epidemic.

SOURCES: Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, news release, May 7, 2026; Journal of the American Medical Association, May 7, 2026