The main finding was that among those who had died (with an average age of 48 years) several types of organ pathology were common. More than half had pathological changes in at least two organ systems.
Hepatitis C related liver change, cardiovascular disease and smoking-related lung disease were the most commonly detected diseases and organ changes. The number of organ systems with pathological changes generally increased with increasing age.
The project included deceased OAT patients in the period 2014 - 15 who had undergone an autopsy (a total of 122 out of 200).
The findings from the project point to the importance of good follow-up of somatic health among those in opioid agonist treatment in order to better detect and prevent diseases that lead to fatal outcomes.