Hot weather and death related to acute cocaine, opioid and amphetamine toxicity in British Columbia, Canada: a time-stratified case-crossover study.

Background: Previous research has shown that cocaine-associated deaths occur more frequently in hot weather, which has not been described for other illicit drugs or combinations of drugs. The study objective was to evaluate the relation between temperature and risk of death related to cocaine, opioids and amphetamines in British Columbia, Canada.

Methods: We extracted data on all deaths with cocaine, opioid or amphetamine toxicity recorded as an underlying or contributing cause from BC vital statistics for 1998-2017.

Kratom exposures managed by the British Columbia poison centre, 2012-2019: a descriptive analysis.

Background: Kratom, a plant indigenous to Southeast Asia, which has been used both recreationally and in the treatment of pain and opioid dependence, has received little scrutiny in the United States and almost none in Canada. We analyzed calls to the British Columbia poison centre to describe caller-declared exposures to kratom and the acute health effects of these exposures.

Methods: For this descriptive analysis, we accessed electronic records, including transcriptions and extracted variables, of calls specifying kratom exposure managed by the BC Drug and Poison Information Centre (DPIC) from 2012 to 2019.

Improving attribution of extreme heat deaths through interagency cooperation.

Attributing individual deaths to extreme heat events (EHE) in Canada and elsewhere is important for understanding the risk factors, protective interventions, and burden of mortality associated with climate change. However, there is currently no single mechanism for identifying individual deaths due to EHE and different agencies have taken different approaches, including (1) vital statistics coding based on medical certificates of death, (2) probabilistic methods, and (3) enhanced surveillance. The 2018 EHE in Montréal provides an excellent case study to compare EHE deaths identified by these different approaches.

Analysis of community deaths during the catastrophic 2021 heat dome: Early evidence to inform the public health response during subsequent events in greater Vancouver, Canada.

Background: British Columbia, Canada, was impacted by a record-setting heat dome in early summer 2021. Most households in greater Vancouver do not have air conditioning, and there was a 440% increase in community deaths during the event. Readily available data were analyzed to inform modifications to the public health response during subsequent events in summer 2021 and to guide further research.

Changing Trends in Paralytic Shellfish Poisonings Reflect Increasing Sea Surface Temperatures and Practices of Indigenous and Recreational Harvesters in British Columbia, Canada.

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) occurs when shellfish contaminated with saxitoxin or equivalent paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) are ingested. In British Columbia, Canada, documented poisonings are increasing in frequency based on 62 investigations identified from 1941-2020. Two PSP investigations were reported between 1941 and 1960 compared to 31 since 2001 ( < 0.