Drug Overdoses During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Recently Homeless Individuals.
Addiction
; 117(6): 1692-1701, 2022 Jun.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1672926
ABSTRACT
AIMS:
To examine how weekly rates of emergency department (ED) visits for drug overdoses changed among individuals with a recent history of homelessness (IRHH) and their housed counterparts during the pre-pandemic, peak, and re-opening periods of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, using corresponding weeks in 2019 as a historical control.DESIGN:
Population-based retrospective cohort study conducted between September 30, 2018 and September 26, 2020.SETTING:
Ontario, Canada.PARTICIPANTS:
A total of 38 617 IRHH, 15 022 369 housed individuals, and 186 858 low-income housed individuals matched on age, sex, rurality, and comorbidity burden. MEASUREMENTS ED visits for drug overdoses of accidental and undetermined intent.FINDINGS:
Average rates of ED visits for drug overdoses between January and September 2020 were higher among IRHH compared with housed individuals (rate ratio [RR], 148.0; 95% CI, 142.7-153.5) and matched housed individuals (RR, 22.3; 95% CI, 20.7-24.0). ED visits for drug overdoses decreased across all groups by ~20% during the peak period (March 17 to June 16, 2020) compared with corresponding weeks in 2019. During the re-opening period (June 17 to September 26, 2020), rates of ED visits for drug overdoses were significantly higher among IRHH (RR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.44-1.69), matched housed individuals (RR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.08-1.46), and housed individuals relative to equivalent weeks in 2019 (RR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.11). The relative increase in drug overdose ED visits among IRHH was larger compared with both matched housed individuals (P = 0.01 for interaction between group and year) and housed individuals (P < 0.001) during this period.CONCLUSIONS:
Recently homeless individuals in Ontario, Canada experienced disproportionate increases in ED visits for drug overdoses during the re-opening period of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with housed people.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ill-Housed Persons
/
Drug Overdose
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Addiction
Journal subject:
Substance-Related Disorders
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Add.15823
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