COVID-19 pandemic effects on emotional health and substance use among urban American Indian and Alaska Native people.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people, who experience a 3.2 times higher age-adjusted rate of hospitalization and nearly double the attributed deaths compared to non-Hispanic Whites. We examined pandemic effects on emotional health and substance use in urban AI/AN people.

Methods

From January-May 2021 we collected cross-sectional data from 642 patients seen at five health organizations serving primarily AI/AN people in urban settings. The outcomes are self-reported, cross-sectional changes in emotional health and substance use since pandemic onset. Exposures of interest include infection history, COVID-19 risk perception, pandemic-related life disruption, and feared effects on AI/AN culture. Poisson r

SUBMITTER: Haskins C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10290739 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature