Table 1.
– Baseline characteristics of the included studies
| Study | Design | Publication year | Study period | Country | Population | Age (years) | Male % | Outcomes | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allen et al. | Retrospective Cohort | 2020 | January 1, 2020 – October 26, 2020 | United States | Patients tested for COVID-19 between 1 January and 26 October 2020 at four centers in New York City | NR | 43 | COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, ICU admission, mortality | SUD, alcohol use disorder and OUD were associated with over 2.5 times the odds of ICU admission, and OD with five times the odds [5.00 (3.02–8.30)]. Overdose was associated with mortality [3.03 (1.70–5.43)] |
| Baillargeon et al. | Retrospective Cohort | 2021 | February 20, 2020 –June 30, 2020 | United States | Adult patients (age > 18) diagnosed as having a COVID-19 infection | 54 ± 17.2 | 52.95 | COVID-19 hospitalization, Mortality | Substance use disorder was associated with an increased risk of hospitalization (32.5% versus 17.4%, odds ratio [OR] = 2.29, 95% CI: 2.16–2.44), ventilator use (6.0% versus 3.1%, OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.79–2.28) and mortality (4.9% versus 2.8%, OR:1.81, 95% CI:1.58–2.07) |
| Jamali et al. | Prospective Cohort | 2021 | February 2020–November 2020 | Iran | All COVID-19 patients, including outpatients and inpatients | 61.1 ± 6.1 | 59.3 | COVID-19 Infection | The incidence of COVID-19 was 4.47% in the group without OUD and 3.33% in the group with OUD. The relative risk for people with OUD was estimated to be 0.74 (95% CI: 0.28–1.97) |
| Qeadan et al. | Retrospective Cohort | 2021 | January 2020–June 2020 | United States | Patients included in the sample were identified as having an encounter associated with a diagnosis or recent positive lab result (at the encounter or up to two weeks prior) for COVID-19 | 51.95 ± 24.46 | 49.3 | COVID-19 hospitalization, mortality | Overall, there was no significant association between having an OUD and odds of death due to COVID-19 (aOR : 1.15, 95% CI : 0.94, 1.41). However, stratifying by age indicated patients younger than 45 with a history of OUD exhibited significantly higher odds of death (aOR: 3.23, 95% CI:1.59, 6.56) than patients without an OUD |
| Riahi et al. | Cross-Sectional | 2021 | March 2020–May 2020 | Iran | Iranian patients affected by COVID-19 | 59.35 ± 16.40 | 57.01 | COVID-19 Infection, ICU admission | There was no significant difference between the groups regarding mean days of hospitalization; however, the need for ICU admission was significantly higher in the opium positive group (36.1% vs 11.3% (p:0.005)) |
| Vallecillo et al. | Cross-Sectional | 2021 | March 12, 202–June 21, 2020 | Spain | All individuals (aged ≥ 18 years) with SUD who were admitted for COVID-19 pneumonia | 56.1 ± 10.3 | 85.2 | COVID-19 ICU admission | During a median length of stay of 10 days (IQR: 7– 19), severe pneumonia developed in 7(25.9%) patients, acute respiratory distress syndrome in 5 (18.5%) and none died |
| Velásquez García et al. | Retrospective Cohort | 2021 | January 26, 2020–January 15, 2021 | United States | Individuals who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (PCR) | NR | 51.2 | COVID-19 hospitalization | A total of 56,874 COVID-19 cases were investigated and the proportion of individuals with SUD among hospital admissions (13.7%) was higher than in those who did not require hospitalization (4.3%) |
| Wang et al. | Retrospective Case–Control | 2021 | Up to July 29, 2020 | United States | Population-level electronic health record (EHR) from 360 hospitals in the US | NR | 46 | COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, mortality | From the total of 73,098,850 individuals 43,160 were OUD. Among 12,030 patients diagnosed with COVID-19, 210 had lifetime OUD (1.75%) |
Data are represented as mean ± standard deviation or percentage (%)
OR Odds ratio, SUD substance use disorder, OUD opioid use disorder, OD overdose, PCR polymerase chain reaction, ICU intensive care unit, IQR interquartile range, NR not reported