Introduction: Prevalence estimates of opioid use disorder (OUD) at local levels are critical for public health planning and surveillance, yet largely unavailable across the US especially at the local county level.
Methods: We used a Bayesian evidence synthesis approach to estimate the prevalence of OUD for 57 counties across New York State for 2017-2019 and compare rates of OUD across counties as well as assess the extent of undiagnosed OUD. We developed a generative model to assess conditional probabilistic relations between different subgroups of the OUD population defined by diagnosis, treatment, and overdose fatality.
Purpose: Exposure to traumatic events may lead to the development of Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) within the first month post-trauma in some individuals, while others may not exhibit ASD symptoms. ASD was introduced as a potential early indicator to identify those at higher risk of developing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), however, PTSD can occur in some individuals even without prior ASD. Assessing ASD post-trauma can assist in identifying those who would most benefit from intervention to prevent later PTSD, yet the predictive power of ASD varies across studies, with intensity of ASD symptoms and subthreshold PTSD often less considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Given the personal and social burdens of opioid use disorder (OUD), understanding time trends in OUD prevalence in large patient populations is key to planning prevention and treatment services.
Objective: To examine trends in the prevalence of OUD from 2005 to 2022 overall and by age, sex, and race and ethnicity.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This serial cross-sectional study included national Veterans Health Administration (VHA) electronic medical record data from the VHA Corporate Data Warehouse.
Introduction: We investigated whether early life exposure to state-level structural sexism influenced late-life memory trajectories among United Staes (U.S.) -born women and men and determined whether associations differed between racialized groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Rates of cannabis use disorder (CUD) have increased disproportionately among Veterans Administration (VA) patients with psychiatric disorders compared to patients with no disorder. However, VA patient samples are not representative of all U.S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: U.S. state electronic prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are associated with reduced opioid dispensing among people with chronic pain and may impact use of other chronic pain treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The United States faces an ongoing drug overdose crisis, but accurate information on the prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) remains limited. A recent analysis by Keyes et al used a multiplier approach with drug poisoning mortality data to estimate OUD prevalence. Although insightful, this approach made stringent and partly inconsistent assumptions in interpreting mortality data, particularly synthetic opioid (SO)-involved and non-opioid-involved mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Lower socioeconomic (SES) communities are more likely to be situated in urban heat islands and have higher heat exposures than their higher SES counterparts, and this inequality is expected to intensify due to climate change.
Objectives: To examine the relationship between surface temperatures and SES in New York City (NYC) by employing a novel analytical approach. Through incorporating modifiable features, this study aims to identify potential locations where mitigation interventions can be implemented to reduce heat disparities associated with SES.
Importance: Depressive symptoms have increased among US adolescents since 2010. It remains unclear as to what extent this increase will persist into young adulthood, potentially turning the youth mental health crisis into a young adult mental health crisis.
Objective: To test the association between birth cohort and adolescent depressive symptoms at ages 18, 19 to 20, and 21 to 22 years and changes in these symptoms by cohort.
Mandatory prescription drug monitoring programs and cannabis legalization have been hypothesized to reduce overdose deaths. We examined associations between prescription monitoring programs with access mandates ("must-query PDMPs"), legalization of medical and recreational cannabis supply, and opioid overdose deaths in United States counties in 2013-2020. Using data on overdose deaths from the National Vital Statistics System, we fit Bayesian spatiotemporal models to estimate risk differences and 95% credible intervals (CrI) in county-level opioid overdose deaths associated with enactment of these state policies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntimate partner violence (IPV) impacts more than 40% of people in the U.S. Since the 1980s, the U.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe explored state-level indicators of structural racism on internalizing symptoms of depressive affect among US adolescents. We merged 16 indicators of state-level structural racism with 2015-19 Monitoring the Future surveys (N=41,258) examining associations with loneliness, self-esteem, self-derogation, and depressive symptoms using regression analyses. Students racialized as Black in states with bans on food stamp eligibility and temporary assistance for drug felony conviction had 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTechnology uses among medical examiner and coroner (MEC) offices in the United States are not well characterized, yet technology is essential to job-performing duties. Resources, operational infrastructure, and MECs' policies and procedures that affect technology use should be better understood. MEC offices need access to technologies like internet, case management systems (CMSs), databases, and advanced imaging to perform their basic duties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Alcohol use is declining among US adolescents/early young adults and increasing among other adults, with increases in adult binge drinking more concentrated in females than males. Reasons for drinking are historically patterned by age and sex, and if historically variant, could suggest that changes over time could in part explain age- and sex-differential cohort effects.
Methods: We analyzed longitudinal Monitoring the Future data for individuals born from 1958 to 1990.
We estimated the effect of community-level natural hazard exposure during prior developmental stages on later anxiety and depression symptoms among young adults and potential differences stratified by gender. We analyzed longitudinal data (2002-2020) on 5585 young adults between 19 and 26 years in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. A binary question identified community-level exposure, and psychometrically validated scales measured recent anxiety and depression symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: The burden of the US opioid crisis has fallen heavily on children, a vulnerable population increasingly exposed to parental opioid use disorder (POUD) in utero or during childhood. A paucity of studies have investigated foster care involvement among those experiencing parental opioid use during childhood and the associated health and health care outcomes.
Objective: To examine the health and health care outcomes of children experiencing POUD with and without foster care involvement.