A population-based study

Drug interactions are a potentially avoidable risk factor for certain complications and are understudied. Methadone is a long-acting opioid largely used to treat opioid use disorder. Mental health illness often co-occurs in methadone-treated patients. The likelihood of co-prescribing serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs), the most commonly prescribed antidepressants, with methadone is high. Some SRIs have also been found to increase the concentration of a compound in methadone that is associated with abnormal heart rhythms and sudden death. Yet, the cardiac safety of combining SRIs with methadone is unknown.

This study assesses the risk of abnormal heart rhythms and sudden death in patients receiving methadone and SRIs.

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