The study, led by Yale researchers, analyzed data from 965 people who died from an opioid-involved overdose in 2017. While previous research has compared abstinence-only treatment with medication-based treatments, this study is the first to compare the two paths with no treatment at all.

The results determined that medications for OUD significantly reduced the risk of death — by 38% for methadone and 34% for buprenorphine.

People who received treatment that did not utilize medications (abstinence-based therapy) were 1.2 to 1.7 times more likely to die than those who were exposed to no treatment at all.