THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Health and Medicine Division
Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Committee on Evaluating the Effects of Opioids and Benzodiazepines on All-Cause Mortality in Veterans
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Congressional Briefing
Wednesday, February 5, 2025 – 12:00 p.m.
via Zoom
on
Veterans, Prescription Opioids and Benzodiazepines, and Mortality, 2007–2019:
Three Target Trial Emulations
Requested by Congress in P.L. 116-171, the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019, this new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report evaluates the effects of opioid and benzodiazepine medications on all-cause mortality of veterans, including suicide, regardless of whether information relating to such deaths was reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report examines newly dispensed opioid pharmacotherapy in veterans without and with current benzodiazepine pharmacotherapy; varying levels of the initial baseline dosage and dosage escalation of dispensed opioid pharmacotherapy; and newly dispensed benzodiazepine compared to alternative non-benzodiazepine pharmacotherapy in veterans with consistent opioid pharmacotherapy.
This briefing was for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on February 6, 2025 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.