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Emergency Medicine

Trends in Drug Overdose Mortality in Ohio During the First 7 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

1 Credit CME

JAMA Network Open

Published Online: April 14, 2021

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Janet M. Currie, PhD^1,2;

Molly K. Schnell, PhD^2,3;

Hannes Schwandt, PhD^2,4;

Jonathan Zhang, PhD¹

Author Affiliations

¹Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
²National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
³Department of Economics, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
⁴School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with excess deaths relative to existing trends.¹ Because drug overdoses are a leading cause of death, it is important to investigate the general time-series pattern of overdose deaths during the pandemic. While there have been reports of increased overdoses in 2020,² other evidence suggests that overdose deaths, especially those due to fentanyl, were increasing before the pandemic.³ Because national data lag data available at the local level, the use of local data is important to examine how closely increases in overdose deaths in 2020 tracked the course of the pandemic.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: March 1, 2021.

Published: April 14, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.7112

Correction: This article was corrected on May 21, 2021, to fix the youngest age category in the Methods section and the key to Figure 2.

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2021 Currie JM et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Janet M. Currie, PhD, Center for Health and Wellbeing Princeton University, 185A Julis Romo Rabinowitz Bldg, Princeton, NJ 08540 (jcurrie@princeton.edu).

Author Contributions: Dr Currie had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: All authors.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors.

Drafting of the manuscript: All authors.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.

Statistical analysis: All authors.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Zhang reported being an evaluator and contractor with the US Department of Veteran Affairs Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. No other disclosures were reported.

References

Faust JS , Krumholz HM , Du C , et al. All-cause excess mortality and COVID-19–related mortality among US adults aged 25-44 years, March-July 2020. JAMA. 2021;325(8):785-787. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.24243 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Ochalek TA , Cumpston KL , Wills BK , Gal TS , Moeller FG . Nonfatal opioid overdoses at an urban emergency department during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA. 2020;324(16):1673-1674. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.17477 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overdose deaths accelerating during COVID-19. December 17, 2020. Accessed January 2, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p1218-overdose-deaths-covid-19.html

Ohio Department of Public Health. Ohio Public Health Information Warehouse: mortality. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://publicappstst.odh.ohio.gov/EDW/DataBrowser/Browse/Mortality

Wilson N , Kariisa M , Seth P , Smith H IV , Davis NL . Drug and opioid-involved overdose deaths—United States, 2017-2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69(11):290-297. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6911a4 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Czeisler MÉ , Lane RI , Petrosky E , et al. Mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 Pandemic—United States, June 24-30, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69(32):1049-1057. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6932a1 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.