What is true regarding naloxone?

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that is primarily used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose. The key point about naloxone is its short half-life, which is typically around 30 to 120 minutes. This characteristic is significant in clinical practice, particularly in the context of treating opioid overdose or when administered to newborns in cases of maternal opioid use during pregnancy.

Because of its short half-life, naloxone’s effects may wear off before the opioids have been fully cleared from the patient's system. This means that even if naloxone successfully reverses opioid toxicity initially, there is a risk that the effects of the opioids will return as naloxone levels decrease. For infants who have been exposed to opioids at birth, close observation is essential after naloxone administration to monitor for any recurrence of respiratory depression or other opioid-related effects. This need for ongoing vigilance underscores the importance of the short half-life of naloxone.

In contrast to this, a longer half-life, as suggested in the context of one of the other options, would not necessitate close observation because the reversal effects would persist longer and provide sustained safety against opioid toxicity. The details regarding the administration dose are pertinent but are secondary to understanding why the half-life