Use of laboratory data for illicit drug use surveillance and identification of socioeconomic risk factors.
Drug Alcohol Depend
; 236: 109499, 2022 07 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1850940
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Drug overdose is the leading cause of death among people 25-44 years of age in the United States. Existing drug surveillance methods are important for prevention and directing treatment, but are limited by delayed reporting and lack of geographic granularity.METHODS:
Laboratory urine drug screen and complete metabolic panel data from patients presenting to the emergency department was used to observe long-term and short-term temporal and geospatial changes at the zip code-level in St. Louis. Multivariate linear regression was performed to investigate associations between zip code-level socioeconomic factors and drug screening positivity rates.RESULTS:
An increase in the fentanyl positive drug screens was seen during the initial COVID-19 shutdown period in the spring of 2020. A decrease in cocaine positivity was seen in the fall and winter of 2020, with a return to baseline coinciding with the second major COVID-19 shutdown in the summer of 2021. These changes appeared to be independent of changes in emergency department utilization as measured by complete metabolic panels ordered. Significant short-term changes in fentanyl and cocaine positivity rates between specific time periods were able to be localized to individual zip codes. Zip code-level multivariate analysis demonstrated independent associations between socioeconomic/demographic factors and fentanyl/cocaine positivity rates as determined by laboratory drug screening data.CONCLUSIONS:
Analyzing clinical laboratory drug screening data can enable a more temporally and geographically granular view of population-level drug use surveillance. Additionally, laboratory data can be utilized to find population-level socioeconomic associations with illicit drug use, presenting a potential avenue for the use of this data to guide public health and healthcare policy decisions.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Illicit Drugs
/
Cocaine
/
Substance-Related Disorders
/
Drug Overdose
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Drug Alcohol Depend
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.drugalcdep.2022.109499
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS