Work

Analysis of Drug Test Results Before and After the US Declaration of a National Emergency Concerning the COVID-19 Outbreak

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: and 45 (44%) and 91 (40%) were uninsured, respectively (Table).In terms of visit characteristics in March through June 2019 and March through June 2020, 55 (54%) and 127 (56%) patients received a naloxone prescription and 45 (44%) and 154 (68%) received treatment resources and/or a referral at discharge, respectively.However, only 4 (4%) and 14 (6%) of the 17 (17%) and 46 (20%) admitted patients received an addiction medicine consult, and 3 (3%) and 23 (10%) accessed treatment at the outpatient clinic after overdosing, respectively.Discussion | In 1 emergency department in Virginia, a greater number of visits for opioid overdoses was observed in the first 4 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Black patients made up a relatively larger proportion of opioid overdose visits compared with the previous year.The study has several limitations.First, these findings were from 1 city's emergency department in a small sample of patients and may not be generalizable to other locations.Second, the number of opioid overdoses was underestimated because official reporting of fatal opioid overdoses is delayed and because patients who did not present to the emergency department were not included.These findings demonstrate additional evidence of racial/ethnic disparities in health that have been magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic 3-5 and the recent historical protests.5 The reasons for the increase in nonfatal opioid overdoses presenting to the emergency department warrant further investigation.

Source: JAMA

DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.17694