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Overdose

Philadelphia is in the midst of a drug epidemic that killed 702 Philadelphians in 2015, 907 in 2016, and is on trajectory to kill 1,200 in 2017. Opioids are involved in the majority of fatal overdoses, contributing to 80% of overdose deaths in 2016. In 2016, the age-adjusted death rate for opioid-involved overdoses was 40.4 deaths per 100,000 residents, up from 17.9 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2010. Despite the epidemiologic work accomplished to date, gaps in knowledge still exist, especially for vulnerable populations such as those with serious mental illness or those who were ever incarcerated, homeless, or within the juvenile justice system. Matching individuals who died of an overdose across city systems could provide insight into missed opportunities for interventions. Findings will help inform policy for those systems that serve clients at highest risk for overdose.

Objective:

To match fatal overdose information across city data sources to understand which systems overdose decedents may have interacted with prior to their death

Submitted by elamb on

Opioid overdoses are a growing cause of mortality in the United States. Medical prescriptions for opioids are a risk factor for overdose. This observation raises concerns that patients may seek multiple opioid prescriptions, possibly increasing their overdose risk. One route for obtaining those prescriptions is visiting the emergency department (ED) for pain-related complaints. Here, two hypotheses related to prescription seeking and overdoses are tested. (1) Overdose patients have a larger number of prior ED visits than matched controls. (2) Overdose patients have distinct patterns of pain-related complaints compared to matched controls.

Objective:

Identifying text features of emergency department visits associated with risk of future drug overdose.

Submitted by elamb on

Nationally and in Wisconsin, heroin is the leading cause of opioid related death and hospitalization. Opioids are commonly prescribed for pain. Every day, over 1,000 people are treated in emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids. In 2015, more than 15,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids. Approximately, three out of four heroin users report having abused prescription opioids prior to using heroin. In Wisconsin from 2010 to 2014 the number of deaths involving any opioid increased by 51% and for heroin increased by 192%. Through the federal government funding and support Wisconsin has established a statewide tool to help combat the ongoing prescription drug abuse epidemic by providing valuable information about controlled substance prescriptions that are dispensed in the state. PDMP is continue to be among the most promising state-level interventions to improve opioid prescribing, inform clinical practice, and protect patients at risk.

Objective:

Using the Wisconsin Enhanced Opioid Surveillance System, the present study evaluates the heroin hospitalization risk among the opioid recipients using the Prescription Drug Monitoring Data (PDMP) with following specific objectives: 1. Evaluate the risk of heroin overdose hospitalization following the prescription of opioid. 2. Assess the time elapsed between last prescribed opioid and first heroin overdose hospitalization. 3. Identify the main predictors of heroin overdose hospitalization among prescribed opioid users.

Submitted by elamb on

A retrospective analysis of emergency department data in NC for drug and opioid overdoses has been explained previously [1]. We built on this initial work to develop new poisoning and surveillance reports to facilitate near real time surveillance by health department and hospital users. In North Carolina, the availability for mortality and hospital discharge data are approximately one and two years after the event date, respectively. NC DETECT data are near real time and over 75% of ED visits receive at least one ICD-9-CM final diagnosis code within two weeks of the initial record receipt.

Objective

Twelve new case definitions were added to the NC DETECT Web Application to facilitate timely surveillance for poisoning and overdose. The process for developing these case definitions and the most recent outputs are described.

Submitted by uysz on

Drug poisoning, or overdose, is an epidemic problem in the United States1,2. In keeping with national trends, a recent study combining U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) data with the National Death Index showed increases in opioid overdose mortality from 2001 to 20093. One of the challenges in monitoring the overdose epidemic is that collecting cohort data to analyze overdose rates can be laborintensive. Moreover, analysts are often unable to collect real-time data on overdose events. To explore solutions to these challenges, we examined opioid overdose by using Veteran healthcare data already being collected for syndromic surveillance.

Objective

To examine inpatient admissions for opioid overdose among U.S. Veterans using national-level surveillance data.

 

Submitted by Magou on

Drug overdoses and related deaths have been escalating nationally since 1970. In Virginia, the rate of drug overdose deaths increased 36% from 5.0 to 6.8 deaths per 100,000 population between 1999 and 2010. While initiated for bioterrorism event detection, syndromic surveillance has shown utility when extended to other health issues. ED visits may complement information from Overdose Deaths investigated by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) in describing drug overdose trends. Due to its real-time nature, syndromic surveillance data could act as an early indicator for emerging drug problems in the community, serving as an alert to public health.

Objective

Determine if syndromic surveillance data can be used to provide a real-time picture of the drug using population by analyzing trends of emergency department (ED) visits for unintentional drug overdose (Overdose Visits) in conjunction with unintentional deaths that prescription or illicit opiates contributed to or caused (Overdose Deaths).

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on

NJDOH created a custom classification in EpiCenter to detect synthetic cannabinoid-related ED visits using chief complaint data. DOH staff included the keywords black magic, black mamba, cloud 9, cloud 10,incense, k2, legal high, pot potpourri, spice, synthetic marijuana, voodoo doll, wicked x, and zombie which were obtained from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Staff also included the keywords, agitation, k-2, moon rocks, seizure, skunk, and yucatan to characterize the related event.

Submitted by uysz on
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