Opioid poisoning is a public health crisis in Canada, with over 20 Canadians dying daily due to opioid-related incidents. Emergency departments (EDs) play a crucial role in addressing this crisis, as more than half of the individuals who die from opioid poisoning visit an ED in the year prior to their death. However, 20% of these patients leave the ED before completing evaluation or treatment, often due to inadequate systems for engaging and treating them effectively. 
This study seeks to establish a national registry to harmonize data collection on patients presenting with opioid poisoning and/or dependence in EDs. This includes patients who are diagnosed with opioid use disorder and who present in opioid withdrawal. Its objectives include understanding variation in clinical practices, identifying effective treatments and harm reduction services, and developing a risk stratification tool to predict 60-day mortality. By targeting patients at the highest risk, this tool will guide the allocation of critical resources in a constrained healthcare environment. 
Through collaboration with patients with lived/living experience, the study will refine screening criteria, analyze care variations across Canada, and inform evidence-based practices for managing opioid poisoning, opioid withdrawal and opioid use disorder. The findings aim to enhance patient outcomes, reduce mortality, and optimize healthcare resources during a critical public health emergency. 
Explore our data
Researchers, healthcare professionals and organizations can learn more about the structure and scope of the Opioid Registry data, including:
- Core demographic, clinical, and encounter-level variables
- Data sources and collection methods
This information helps teams assess feasibility, plan analyses, and align study designs with available registry fields.
A complete Data Dictionary is available for download.
Request access
To request access to registry data, please complete the Contact Form and a member of our team will follow up with next steps.
Learn more about this study
Withdraw from this study
If you meet criteria for inclusion in this study and would prefer not to have your data included, please contact the Research Coordinator, Vi Ho, at vi.ho@ubc.ca.