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Principal Investigator: Magdalena Cerda
Organization: BROWN UNIVERSITY
Fiscal Year: 2020
Award: $168,548
Funding agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
The COVID-19 pandemic is colliding with the ongoing drug overdose epidemic, a public health crisis that has
taken over 750,000 lives in the United States over the past two decades. The pandemic and associated
policy responses will have lasting impacts of the lives of people at risk for overdose. Moreover, the immediate
effects of the pandemic on access to overdose prevention and treatment resources, as well as fatal and
nonfatal overdose rates, are in need of urgent study. This research will determine how policies enacted as a
result of the COVID-19 pandemic response have affected both access to overdose prevention and treatment
resources, as well as rates of fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the community. The effect of acute changes on
COVID-19 related diagnoses, hospitalizations, and deaths on subsequent spikes in fatal and nonfatal
overdose, particularly in racial/ethnic and economically distressed communities, will also be examined.
Documenting these impacts will provide important insights into the types of health service measures that
need to be put in place during future disasters to avoid escalation of drug overdose risk. The study will take
place in Rhode Island, a state with the 4th highest COVID-10 diagnosis rate and the 7th highest COVIDassociated
mortality rates in the nation (as of May 18th, 2020). In Aim 1, we will determine how policies
enacted as part of the state’s COVID-19 pandemic response have influenced both access to and utilization of
harm reduction resources (e.g., naloxone) and engagement in substance use treatment, as well as rates of
fatal and non-fatal overdoses. In Aim 2, we hypothesize that various measures of COVID-19 disease burden
(e.g., diagnosis rates, hospitalizations) will predict subsequent spikes in fatal and non-fatal overdose, and that
these spikes will be particularly pronounced in economically distressed and racial/ethnic minority
communities. This work will help build an urgently needed evidence base to determine how best to effectively
manage the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the overdose epidemic, and to support addiction-related health
and social service systems during unanticipated public health crises in the future.
Terms: <2019 novel coronavirus><2019-nCoV><AOD use><Accident and Emergency department><Actiq><Acute><Adanon><Admission><Admission activity><Adverse effects><Affect><Alcohol or Other Drugs use><Althose><Buprenorphine><COVID><COVID-19><COVID-19 epidemic><COVID-19 pandemic><COVID19><COVID19 epidemic><COVID19 pandemic><Cause of Death><Cessation of life><Cities><CoV disease><Communities><Country><Data><Data Set><Data Sources><Dataset><Death><Diagnosis><Disasters><Disease Outbreaks><Distress><Dolophine><Drugs><Duragesic><ED visit><ER visit><Emergency Department><Emergency care visit><Emergency department visit><Emergency hospital visit><Emergency medical service><Emergency room><Emergency room visit><Environment><Epidemic><Evidence based treatment><Fentanest><Fentanyl><Fentyl><Future><Grips><Harm Minimization><Harm Reduction><Health><Health Services><Health system><Healthcare Delivery><Home><Home environment><Hospital Admission><Hospitalization><Impact evaluation><Infection><Infrastructure><Interruption><Intervention><Intervention Community Trial><Intervention Strategies><Investigators><Measures><Medicaid><Medication><Methadone><Methadose><NIDA><Naloxone><National Institute of Drug Abuse><National Institute on Drug Abuse><Needle-Exchange Programs><Neighborhoods><Outbreaks><Outcome><Overdose><Parents><Pharmaceutic Preparations><Pharmaceutical Preparations><Pharmacies><Pharmacy facility><Phentanyl><Policies><Position><Positioning Attribute><Predictive Analytics><Public Health><Randomized><Records><Recovery><Reporting><Research><Research Personnel><Research Resources><Researchers><Resources><Rhode Island><Risk><Running><SARS-CoV-2><SARS-CoV2><SARS-associated coronavirus 2><SARS-coronavirus-2><SARS-related coronavirus 2><Series><Services><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2><Social Service><Social Work><Stress><Sum><Syringe-Exchange Programs><System><Time><United States><Work><Wuhan coronavirus><addiction><addictive disorder><adverse consequence><adverse outcome><base><burden of disease><burden of illness><corona virus disease><corona virus disease 2019><corona virus disease 2019 epidemic><corona virus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease><coronavirus disease 2019><coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic><design><designing><disease burden><drug/agent><emergency service><ethnic minority><ethnic minority population><evidence base><experience><grasp><health care delivery><health services delivery><high risk><improved><insight><interest><interventional strategy><licit opioid><methadone maintenance><methadone maintenance program><methadone maintenance therapy><methadone maintenance treatment><methadone treatment><minority communities><mortality><needle exchange><novel><opiate medication><opiate use disorder><opioid medication><opioid use disorder><overdose death><overdose prevention><overdose risk><pandemic><pandemic disease><parent grant><prescribed opiate><prescribed opioid><prescription opiate><prescription opioid><prevent><preventing><prevention service><racial and ethnic><randomisation><randomization><randomly assigned><response><substance use><substance using><synthetic opiate><synthetic opioid><syringe exchange><syringe exchange services><syringe service programs><tool><treatment program><treatment services><trend><using substances><years of life lost to disability><years of life lost to disease>