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The Impact of COVID-19 on Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths in Texas.
Lalani, Karima; Bakos-Block, Christine; Cardenas-Turanzas, Marylou; Cohen, Sarah; Gopal, Bhanumathi; Champagne-Langabeer, Tiffany.
  • Lalani K; Center for Health Systems Analytics, UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
  • Bakos-Block C; Center for Health Systems Analytics, UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
  • Cardenas-Turanzas M; Center for Health Systems Analytics, UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
  • Cohen S; Center for Health Systems Analytics, UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
  • Gopal B; Center for Health Systems Analytics, UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
  • Champagne-Langabeer T; Center for Health Systems Analytics, UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health ; 19(21)2022 Oct 24.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2082064
ABSTRACT
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States was facing an epidemic of opioid overdose deaths, clouding accurate inferences about the impact of the pandemic at the population level. We sought to determine the existence of increases in the trends of opioid-related overdose (ORO) deaths in the Greater Houston metropolitan area from January 2015 through December 2021, and to describe the social vulnerability present in the geographic location of these deaths. We merged records from the county medical examiner's office with social vulnerability indexes (SVIs) for the region and present geospatial locations of the aggregated ORO deaths. Time series analyses were conducted to determine trends in the deaths, with a specific focus on the years 2019 to 2021. A total of 2660 deaths were included in the study and the mean (standard deviation, SD) age at death was 41.04 (13.60) years. Heroin and fentanyl were the most frequent opioids detected, present in 1153 (43.35%) and 1023 (38.46%) ORO deaths. We found that ORO deaths increased during the years 2019 to 2021 (p-value ≤ 0.001) when compared with 2015. Compared to the year 2019, ORO deaths increased for the years 2020 and 2021 (p-value ≤ 0.001). The geographic locations of ORO deaths were not associated with differences in the SVI. The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on increasing ORO deaths in the metropolitan Houston area; however, identifying the determinants to guide targeted interventions in the areas of greatest need may require other factors, in addition to community-level social vulnerability parameters.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Drug Overdose / Opiate Overdose / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study Limits: Adult / Humans Country/Region as subject: North America Language: English Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Ijerph192113796

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Drug Overdose / Opiate Overdose / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study Limits: Adult / Humans Country/Region as subject: North America Language: English Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Ijerph192113796