Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-7-2025

Comments

This article is the author’s final published version in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Volume 275, 2025, Article number 112826.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112826. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s).

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Xylazine-adulterated fentanyl has rapidly spread across the United States and has been increasingly detected in overdose deaths in Philadelphia, PA through medical examiner reports, clinical testing, and widescale drug checking. Xylazine use has been associated with wounds which may lead to amputation, but the extent of this outcome has not been explored.

METHODS: Utilizing the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) codes, we conducted a de-identified retrospective analysis of data for patients identified with opioid related disorders (ICD-10 code F11) admitted to four different hospitals in Philadelphia, PA between 2018 and 2023. Exposure to xylazine use and active substance use among the sample was not confirmed. Year as proxy for xylazine adulteration was examined for association with amputation using multivariable logistic regression. Demographics, diabetes, number of visits and leaving before treatment completion were examined as factors associated with amputation.

RESULTS: There were 20,595 acute care visits among 12,047 unique patients with an F11 diagnosis. Among patients, 211 received ≤ 1 amputations across 277 visits. The incidence of amputations increased from 0.81 % in 2018 to 1.55 % in 2023. The adjusted odds of receiving an amputation were 2.08 greater in 2022-2023 than 2018-2019 (OR 2.18, 95 % CI [1.51, 314], p <  0.001; AOR 2:08, 95 % CI [1.43, 3.01], p <  0.001).

CONCLUSION: The odds of receiving an amputation among individuals with an ICD-10 F11 code rose alongside increased presence of xylazine in the drug supply. As xylazine continues to spread throughout the United States, health providers need more information to better address risk factors for amputation and develop protocols to decrease incidence of PWUO leaving before treatment completion.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Language

English

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