Patients were included in the persistent user subgroup (LDN × 4+) if they collected four or more LDN prescriptions. The date of the first dispense is the index date, and we recorded all dispensed prescriptions on psychotropic and antiepileptic medicines 365 days before the index date, and from the index date +364 days.We stratified the patients into three subgroups depending on the number of collected LDN prescriptions after the index date. We would like to thank Frode Skjold for preparing the data files.Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centre (RELIS), University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, NorwayDepartment of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, NorwayYou can also search for this author in You can also search for this author in The differences in sex and age were minor, but as there were major differences in the dispensing of medicines before starting LDN (e.g. It is likely some significant results found were caused by chance. It is plausible that naltrexone could influence mental health by interfering with the endogenous opioids, which may have a direct role in depression via the mesolimbic systemIn conclusion, the reductions in the use of antiepileptics and psychotropics following the initiation of persistent LDN use suggest that efficacy of LDN in depression and other psychiatric conditions cannot be ruled out. There was a 17% relative reduction in the number of antipsychotic users for the LDN × 4+ group and a 25% relative increase in LDN × 1, representing a significant difference-in-difference between these groups (2.1% points, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.0, p < 0.001).There were increases in cumulative number of DDDs of benzodiazepine-like hypnotics (Z-hypnotics) in all groups, but no change in number of users. A quasi-experimental study. & Meggs, W. J. Double-blinded placebo-controlled cross-over pilot trial of naltrexone to treat Gulf War Illness. Low dose naltrexone (2018).Brewer, K. L., Mainhart, A. We believe this is negligible since most LDN was prescribed in general practice. Raknes, G. & Småbrekke, L. Low-dose naltrexone and opioid consumption: a drug utilization cohort study based on data from the Norwegian prescription database. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. U.S. Patent Application No. References below to d -amphetamine alone pertain to those instances in which 15 or 30 mg was administered following pretreatment with 0 mg naltrexone and 0 mg alprazolam. We used a pairwise two-sided The Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics of Northern Norway reviewed the study protocol. Assessment of compliance was impossible.In a previous study, we showed that opioid use was reduced by 47% after starting LDN. Patient and prescriber characteristics, and dispense patterns. is rarely prescribed. In all of these groups, the reductions in number of users were larger in LDN × 4+. Scientific Reports the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in There was difference-in-difference in number of users (2.1% points, 95% CI 0.8 to 3.5, p = 0.003) of tricyclic antidepressants between LDN × 1 (−0.2% points) and LDN × 4 + (−2.4% points).There were no changes in the dispensing of psychostimulants following the initiation of LDN use.There was a 13% relative increase in the number of DDDs for gabapentin and pregabalin in the LDN × 1 group, but no difference in cumulative sum of DDDs for lithium and lamotrigine in any group. Analysis of blood naltrexone levels indicated that naltrexone implants maintained blood levels above 3.8 ± 0.5 ng/mL for approximately 87 days. There are no established pharmacotherapies available for the treatment of amphetamine, cannabis, or benzodiazepine addiction. Dispenses to hospitalized patients could potentially lead to bias. Ideally, a control group unexposed to LDN should have been included, but our ethics data privacy approvals did not allow this.Quasi-experimental studies are prone to deviation to a mean, and examples were present in this study (e.g. LDN could be an efficacious, safe and affordable treatment alternative.Data is available from the Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) for researchers who after application meet the criteria for access to prescription data.