Opioid-related emergency department visits and deaths after a harm-reduction intervention: a retrospective observational cohort time series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To date, there has been little research on the effect of safe consumption site and community-based naloxone programs on regional opioid-related emergency department visits and deaths. We sought to determine the impact of these interventions on regional opioid-related emergency department visit and death rates in the province of Alberta.

Methods

We used a retrospective observational design, via interrupted time series analysis, to assess municipal opioid-related emergency department visit volume and opioid-related deaths (defined by poisoning and opioid use disorder). We compared rates before and after program implementation in individual Alberta municipalities and province-wide after safe consumption site (March 2018 to October 2018) and community-based naloxone (

SUBMITTER: Yeung MEM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10287102 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature