Examining the spatial risk environment tied to the opioid crisis through a unique public health, EMS, and academic research collaborative: Lowell, Massachusetts, 2008-2018.
Lowell
Massachusetts
Opioids
Overdose
Syringe discard
Journal
Preventive medicine reports
ISSN: 2211-3355
Titre abrégé: Prev Med Rep
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 101643766
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Dec 2021
Dec 2021
Historique:
received:
21
02
2021
revised:
27
09
2021
accepted:
03
10
2021
entrez:
3
1
2022
pubmed:
4
1
2022
medline:
4
1
2022
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Between 2015 and 2018, Lowell Massachusetts experienced outbreaks in opioid overdoses, HIV, and hepatitis C virus infections (HCV) among people who inject drugs. Through an innovative collaboration between emergency medical services (EMS), public health, and academic partners, we assessed the geographic distribution of opioid-related risks to inform intervention efforts. We analyzed data from three unique data sources for publicly discarded syringes, opioid-related incidents (ORIs), and fatal opioid overdoses in Lowell between 2008 and 2018. We assessed the risk environment over time using a geographic information system to identify and characterize hotspots and noted parallel trends within the syringe discard and ORI data. We identified two notable increases in ORIs per day: the first occurring between 2008 and 2010 (from 0.3 to 0.5), and the second between 2011 and 2014 (from 0.9 to 1.3), following the introduction of fentanyl within local drug markets. We also identified seasonal patterns in the syringe discard, ORI, and overdose data. Through our spatial analyses, we identified significant clusters of discarded syringes, ORIs, and fatal overdoses (p < 0.05), and neighborhoods where high densities of these outcomes overlapped. We found that areas with the highest densities shifted over time, expanding beyond the epicenter of the Downtown neighborhood. Data sharing and analyses among EMS, public health, and academic partners can foster better assessments of local risk environments. Our work, along with new public health efforts in Lowell, led to a city-funded position to improve pick-up and proper disposal of publicly discarded syringes, and better targeted harm reduction services.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34976650
doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101591
pii: S2211-3355(21)00281-3
pmc: PMC8683861
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
101591Informations de copyright
© 2021 The Authors.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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