Geospatial Variations and Neighborhood Deprivation in Drug-Related Admissions and Overdoses.

Drug overdoses are a national and global epidemic. However, while overdoses are inextricably linked to social, demographic, and geographical determinants, geospatial patterns of drug-related admissions and overdoses at the neighborhood level remain poorly studied. The objective of this paper is to investigate spatial distributions of patients admitted for drug-related admissions and overdoses from a large, urban, tertiary care center using electronic health record data. Additionally, these spatial distributions were adjusted for a validated socioeconomic index called the Area Deprivation Index (ADI). We showed spatial heterogeneity in patients admitted for opioid, amphetamine, and psychostimulant-related diagnoses and overdoses. While ADI was associated with drug-related admissions, it did not correct for spatial variations and could not account alone for this spatial heterogeneity.

Duke Scholars

Author Mark Janko Duke Global Health Institute

Author Paul Michael Lantos Medicine, General Internal Medicine

Author Karthik Raghunathan Anesthesiology, VA Anesthesiology Service

Author Vijay Krishnamoorthy Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine

Author Eric Allen JohnBull Anesthesiology, VA Anesthesiology Service

Author Atilio Barbeito Anesthesiology, VA Anesthesiology Service

Author Padma Gulur Anesthesiology, Pain Management