The Association of Opioid Use Disorder and COVID-19 in Shahroud, Iran

Abstract Background COVID-19 quickly spread to the world, causing a pandemic. While some studies have found no link between Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and COVID-19, the role of the opioid on COVID-19 is challenging. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between OUD and COVID-19. Methods This was a prospective cohort study. We used data from the third phase of the Shahroud eye cohort study on 4394 participants which started in September 2019 and ended before the COVID-19 epidemic in Shahroud in February 2020. The participants were followed for 10.5 months till November 2020. COVID-19 was detected by RT-PCR on swap samples from the oropharynx and nasopharynx. The incidence of COVID-19 compared in OUD and Non-OUD participants, and relative risk was calculated in Log Binomial Regression model. Results Among the 4394 participants with a mean age of 61.1 years, 120 people had OUD. The incidence of COVID-19 in participants with OUD and Non-OUD were 3.3% and 4.5%, respectively. The relative risk of OUD for COVID-19 was 0.75 (95% Confidence intervals: 0.28 – 1.98; P= 0.555). Conclusions Opioid use disorder was not associated with COVID-19. The claim that people with OUD are less likely to develop COVID-19 is not supported by this data.