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Spatial-temporal trends in the risk of illicit drug toxicity death in British Columbia Hu, Kevin; Klinkenberg, Brian, 1954-; Gan, Wen Qi; Slaunwhite, Amanda

Abstract

Background: Illicit drug poisoning (overdose) continues to be an important public health problem with overdose-related deaths currently recorded at an unprecedented level. Understanding the geographic variations in fatal overdose mortality is necessary to avoid disproportionate risk resulting from service access inequity. Methods: We estimated the odds of fatal overdose per event from all cases captured by the overdose surveillance system in British Columbia (2015 - 2018), using both conventional logistic regression and Generalized Additive Models (GAM). The results of GAM were mapped to identify spatial-temporal trends in the risk of fatal overdose. Results: We found that the odds of fatal overdose were about 30% higher in rural areas than in large urban centers, with some regions reporting odds 50% higher than others. Temporal variations in fatal overdose revealed an increasing trend over the entire province. However, the increase occurred earlier and faster in the Interior and Northern regions. Conclusion: Rural areas were disproportionately affected by fatal overdose; lack of access to harm reduction services may partly explain the elevated risk in these areas.

Item Metadata

Title
Spatial-temporal trends in the risk of illicit drug toxicity death in British Columbia
Creator
Hu, Kevin; Klinkenberg, Brian, 1954-; Gan, Wen Qi; Slaunwhite, Amanda
Contributor
BC Centre for Disease Control
Publisher
BioMed Central
Date Issued
2022-11-18
Description
Background: Illicit drug poisoning (overdose) continues to be an important public health problem with overdose-related deaths currently recorded at an unprecedented level. Understanding the geographic variations in fatal overdose mortality is necessary to avoid disproportionate risk resulting from service access inequity. Methods: We estimated the odds of fatal overdose per event from all cases captured by the overdose surveillance system in British Columbia (2015 - 2018), using both conventional logistic regression and Generalized Additive Models (GAM). The results of GAM were mapped to identify spatial-temporal trends in the risk of fatal overdose. Results: We found that the odds of fatal overdose were about 30% higher in rural areas than in large urban centers, with some regions reporting odds 50% higher than others. Temporal variations in fatal overdose revealed an increasing trend over the entire province. However, the increase occurred earlier and faster in the Interior and Northern regions. Conclusion: Rural areas were disproportionately affected by fatal overdose; lack of access to harm reduction services may partly explain the elevated risk in these areas.
Subject
Overdose; Harm reduction; Healthcare access; Generalized additive models; GIS
Geographic Location
Downtown-Eastside (Vancouver, B.C.)
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2024-11-13
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI
10.14288/1.0447271
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89669
Affiliation
Arts, Faculty of; Medicine, Faculty of; Non UBC; Geography, Department of; Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of
Citation
BMC Public Health. 2022 Nov 18;22(1):2121
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s12889-022-14586-8
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher; Graduate
Copyright Holder
The Author(s)
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
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Rights

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)