Fentanyl is first on the list of drugs found in overdose patients at University of Maryland Medical Center's midtown and downtown campuses, according to a study published June 12 in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The researchers analyzed the drugs in overdose patient's urine collected from January 2016 to December 2019. They found that fentanyl appeared in 73 to 87 percent of the samples during 2019, the first year UMC began testing for it.
The authors of the study suggest that healthcare facilities add fentanyl to their standard drug testing panels, which do not currently include the drug even though it is linked to most opioid overdose cases.