Journal Watch

Overdose risk high post-incarceration

People released from carceral facilities are at heightened risk of dying by overdose, a study in APHA’s American Journal of Public Health’s September issue finds.

Researchers examined death records of 100,000 people released from jail or prison in Minnesota from March 2020 through December 2021.

They found that people released from jail were more than 15 times more likely to die from overdose than the general population over the same period. Opioids were the leading cause of overdose death.

Study researchers recommended providing methadone and other medications to manage opioid dependence in carceral settings and offering naloxone training to treat overdoses. They also called for developing services that address care, adequate housing and potential employment.

“Providing seamless access to medications for opioid use disorder during and after incarceration is important to lower the risk of death following release,” the study said.

Long COVID common for disabled people

People with disabilities are more likely to experience long COVID-19, according to a study in published in August by AJPH.

Researchers reviewed the 2022 National Survey of Health Disability to determine how many adults with disabilities experienced long COVID, defined as having symptoms for at least three months following SARS-CoV2 infection. Over 2,200 people who had a preexisting disability prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 participated in the survey.

Of people with disabilities who had COVID-19, over 40% experienced symptoms for three months or more. People with long COVID often experienced a chronic illness such as diabetes or asthma, or a mental health issue such as depression or anxiety. By comparison, less than 19% of the general public reported having long COVID symptoms.

Better documentation is needed on the prevalence of long COVID among people with disabilities, the study said.

Hispanic areas risk water contamination

Droughts can worsen water contamination, with Hispanic communities at higher risk, an AJPH study says.

Photo by Antonio_Diaz, courtesy iStockphoto

Hispanic neighborhoods are at heightened risk for drinking water contamination during droughts, a study in the September issue of AJPH finds.

Heat waves cause high evaporation of water sources used by community systems, raising risks that toxins such as nitrate and arsenic will become concentrated. Water systems serving low-income neighborhoods often lack modern equipment to properly filter out contaminants.

The study examined 2007-2020 records of over 2,000 community water service systems serving millions of Californians. Demographic information came from the American Community Survey and drought information from the Palmer Drought Severity Index.

Hispanic communities, often in agricultural regions, showed higher levels of nitrate and arsenic concentrations in their tap water during droughts when compared to other California communities, the research found. Nitrate concentrations were twice as high in many cases.

“Without significant investments in adaptive or mitigation capacity, future droughts may further widen drinking water disparities, putting already vulnerable communities at heightened risk,” the study said.

Drug types vary in overdose deaths

The types of drugs involved in unintentional overdoses and deaths by suicide are not generally the same, offering new insights for intervention, a new study in October’s AJPH finds.

Researchers looked at data from the National Vital Statistics System covering 1999-2022, a period in which overall drug over dose deaths increased significantly in the U.S. Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, psychostimulants and cocaine accounted for most unintentional drug overdose deaths.

But those drugs were uncommon in suicide overdoses. The most common drugs in those circumstances were overdosing on antidepressants, prescription opioids or benzodiazepines.

Knowing which drugs are most often used in suicide and safely storing those drugs in a home or care facility could save lives, researchers said.

For podcasts and studies from AJPH, visit www.ajph.org.