New opioid use in older adults with COPD associated with increased risk of cardiac death

Older adults with COPD who recently started using opioids have an increased risk of coronary artery disease-related death compared to non-opioid users, researchers have found. Among these patients, new opioid use is associated with a 215 percent increase in coronary artery disease-related death for long-term care residents and an 83 percent increase in coronary artery disease-related death for those who lived at home compared to non-opioid users, according to the study.