Geospatial and Temporal Associations between Increases in Opioid Deaths, Socioeconomics, and Rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the Northeast United States 2012-2017.

With the introduction of fentanyl to illegal markets in 2013 and an overall rise in rates of synthetic opioid use, opioid-related deaths have increased significantly. A similar trend has been observed for sexually transmitted infections, homicides, and poor mental health outcomes. In this paper, we explore the spatiotemporal relationship between opioid death rates and sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates in counties from the Northeast region of the United States between the years 2012-2017.