Health disparities and injection drug use behaviors among adults with and without disabilities in the National Survey on drug use and health, 2015-2019.

Background: Little is known about the prevalence of injection drug use in people with disabilities (PWD) when compared by disability type and to other adults without disabilities.

Objective Or Hypothesis: The prevalence of past-year injection drug use will be higher in adults with a reported disability than adults without any reported disability.

Methods: This study consisted of secondary analyses of data from the 2015-2019 National Survey of Drug Use and Health.

Self-Reported Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyl Use and Associated Health and Substance Use Risks in the United States, 2022.

Objective: Illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF) has emerged as a catalyst of the recent drug epidemic in the United States. To devise more targeted and effective prevention and treatment strategies, it is crucial to understand the demographics of the population who consumes IMF and their health and associated substance use risks. Therefore, this study explores the sociodemographic characteristics, health diagnoses, and drug injection practices of individuals reporting IMF use.

Narcanazo: Community Activation of Antiracist Epidemiology.

The Latinx (Hispanic) social construct obscures differences in the overdose risk levels of groups within this category. When national data are disaggregated, stateside Puerto Rican mortality increases exponentially, so much that this community has the highest rates of overdose deaths across years. Developed by Bronx-based Puerto Ricans, Narcanazo is an empowered upstander campaign that uses local overdose data to mobilize community members as trained naloxone dispensers.

County-level industrial composition of the labor force and drug overdose mortality rates in the United States in 2018-2021.

Background: Drug mortality risks vary among industries, creating distinctive geographic patterns across US counties. However, less is known about how local labor market structure relates to drug overdose mortality amid the synthetic opioid era in the United States. This study investigates the relationship between industry-specific job composition and drug overdose mortality at the county level while exploring how fentanyl's presence in illicit drug supplies may moderate the relationship.

Black Americans' Drug Mortality Increases and Local Employment Opportunities, 2010‒2021.

To test the associations between local employment opportunities for the Black workforce and drug mortality among Black Americans, while examining the potential moderating effects of fentanyl seizure rates. We derived data from the National Center for Health Statistics' restricted-access Multiple Cause of Death file, linked with county-level job counts, drug supply, and other characteristics from the US Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After examining the characteristics of counties by the magnitudes of increases in drug mortality from 2010‒2013 to 2018-2021, we conducted a first-differenced regression analysis to test the associations between the job-to-Black workforce ratio and age-adjusted drug mortality rates among Black Americans in US counties and test the moderating effects of state-level fentanyl seizure rates.

Racial/ethnic inequality in homelessness and drug overdose deaths in US States.

Purpose: This study examined whether state-level racial disproportionality in homelessness is associated with racial disproportionality in overdose mortality.

Methods: Counts of individuals experiencing homelessness (2015-2017; by state and racial/ethnic group) were obtained from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development; population estimates and counts of drug overdose deaths (2018-2021; by state and racial/ethnic group) were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics. Homelessness and overdose mortality disproportionality scores were calculated to indicate the extent to which each racial group was over- or under- represented among those experiencing homelessness, or among overdose deaths, respectively (relative to each racial group's proportional share in the general population).

A scoping review of law enforcement drug seizures and overdose mortality in the United States.

Background: Leveraging law enforcement drug seizure data to better respond to the overdose crisis requires an understanding of available evidence and knowledge gaps regarding relationships between drug seizures and overdose mortality.

Objective: This scoping review summarized peer-reviewed literature on associations between law enforcement drug seizures and drug-related mortality in the United States (US) in the era of illicitly-manufactured fentanyl, comparing study data sources, measures, methodologies, settings, and findings.

Methods: We identified 388 non-duplicate records from three online databases searched on May 23, 2023.

Xylazine in Overdose Deaths and Forensic Drug Reports in US States, 2019-2022.

Importance: Xylazine is increasingly reported in street drugs and fatal overdoses in the US, yet state-level data are limited, hampering local public health responses.

Objective: To gather available state-level data on xylazine involvement in overdose deaths and in forensic drug reports.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study was a secondary analysis of 2019 to 2022 data from the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS), National Center for Health Statistics, and individual states' medical examiner or public health agency reports.

Human Hemoglobin-Based Zinc-Air Battery in a Neutral Electrolyte.

The use of human hemoglobin (Hb) as a catalytic component of the air electrode in a primary zinc-air battery with a neutral electrolyte has been investigated. Three different electrode modifications, using the drop-casting method, with Hb and Nafion were first tested in a three-electrode cell, obtaining the best oxygen electroreduction (ORR) performance and long-term stability with a Hb plus Nafion (Hb-Nafion)-modified electrode. The latter Hb-Nafion-based air electrode provided a higher specific capacity and discharge time than the opposite order (Nafion-Hb).

Drug supply measures and drug overdose mortality in the era of fentanyl and stimulants.

Background: Illicitly-manufactured fentanyl and stimulants have replaced prescription opioids as the primary contributors to fatal overdoses in the United States (US), yet the street supply of these substances is challenging to quantify. Building on the foundation of prior research on law enforcement drug reports, the present study compares publicly available forensic laboratory drug report measures to identify which measures account for the most variation in drug overdose mortality between states, within states over time, and in various demographic groups.

Methods: Drug reports from the National Forensic Laboratory Information System and drug overdose mortality rates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were examined for all US states and the District of Columbia, 2013-2021 (459 state-years).

Recency of Cannabis Vaping in Sexual Minorities in Wave 5 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study.

Background: Cannabis vaping is increasing in the United States. Among populations at-risk are sexual minorities (SM) who are more likely to vape cannabis compared to their heterosexual counterparts. Cannabis vaping has been associated with negative health outcomes and concomitant use of other substances with increased risk with more recent use.

Intersectional Stigma as a Fundamental Cause of Health Disparities: A case study of how drug use stigma intersecting with racism and xenophobia creates health inequities for Black and Hispanic persons who use drugs over time.

Recent evidence points to racial and ethnic disparities in drug-related deaths and health conditions. Informed by stigma, intersectionality, intersectional stigma, and fundamental cause theories, we aimed to explore whether intersectional stigma was a fundamental cause of health. We document key events and policies over time and find that when progress is made new mechanisms emerge that negatively affect health outcomes for Black and Hispanic persons.

Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids: Racial/ethnic and educational disparities in the eastern and western US.

Background: This study examined racial/ethnic and educational disparities in US synthetic opioid overdose mortality East and West of the Mississippi River.

Methods: Using restricted-access 2018-2021 mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and population estimates from the American Community Survey, age-standardized rate ratios (SRRs) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs) were used to compare rates of synthetic opioid mortality by race/ethnicity and educational attainment level in the regions East and West of the Mississippi River.

Results: Racial/ethnic disparities in synthetic opioid mortality rates, relative to the Non-Hispanic (NH) White population, were observed in the NH Black (SRR, 1.

Xylazine in Drug Seizure Reports and Overdose Deaths in the US, 2018-2022.

Xylazine is increasingly reported in street drugs and fatal overdoses in the United States (US), often in combination with synthetic opioids, yet state-level xylazine data are limited, hampering local public health responses. The present study analyzed 2018-2022 state-level data from the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (xylazine-positive reports of seized drugs analyzed by forensic laboratories), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (population estimates, synthetic opioid overdose mortality rates), and individual states' medical examiner/public health agency reports (numbers of xylazine-involved overdose deaths). An ordinary least squares regression model predicted state-level synthetic opioid overdose mortality rates by xylazine seizure report rates, adjusting for US Census Region.

State-level homelessness and drug overdose mortality: Evidence from US panel data.

Background: Although homelessness is a well-documented risk factor for drug overdose at the individual level, less is known about state-level homelessness and overdose mortality in the United States (US).

Methods: This study used 2007-2020 panel data for all US states and the District of Columbia, from the following sources: US Department of Housing and Urban Development (homelessness data); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (drug overdose death counts, population estimates, and opioid prescribing rates); Bureau of Labor Statistics (unemployment rates); and the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (drug seizure data). Two-way (state and year) fixed effects models regressed log-transformed drug overdose mortality rates on homelessness prevalence, in nested models adding demographic composition and unemployment measures, as well as drug supply measures.

Racial and ethnic data justice: The urgency of surveillance data disaggregation.

Disease and overdose surveillance across industrialized countries, including the United States (US), have historically relied upon racial and ethnic classifications such as Non-Hispanic Black, White, Asian and Hispanic/Latinx to characterize the populations it describes. These categories underestimate significant HIV, hepatitis C (HCV) and drug overdose variance within these groups, by both place of birth and ethnicity. For socioeconomically disadvantaged people of color in the US, frontline workers (i.

County-Level Economic Changes and Drug Mortality in the United States: Evidence from the Great Recession.

We aimed at examining whether county-level economic changes were associated with changes in county-level drug mortality rates since the Great Recession and whether the association is equally distributed across major sociodemographic subgroups. Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (2004-2019), combined with census data, we conducted fixed effects analyses by including county-level economic changes as primary exposures and county-level drug-related mortality rates (per 100,000 people) from 2004-2007 (i.e.

County-level predictors of US drug overdose mortality: A systematic review.

Background: This systematic review summarized published literature on county-level predictors of drug overdose mortality in the United States (US).

Methods: Peer-reviewed studies and doctoral dissertations published in English between 1990 and July 19, 2022 were identified from PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and EconLit. Eligible studies examined at least one county-level predictor of drug overdose mortality in US counties.

Ethnic discrimination and psychological stress among Hispanic emerging adults: Examining the moderating effects of distress tolerance and optimism.

Hispanic emerging adults are often exposed to ethnic discrimination, yet little is known about coping resources that may mitigate the effects of ethnic discrimination on psychological stress in this rapidly growing population. As such, this study aims to examine (1) the associations of ethnic discrimination, distress tolerance, and optimism with psychological stress and (2) the moderating effects of distress tolerance and optimism on the association between ethnic discrimination and psychological stress. Data were drawn from a cross-sectional study of 200 Hispanic adults ages 18-25, recruited from two urban counties in Arizona and Florida.