Neighborhood spikes in drug and alcohol overdoses and subsequent suicide: A serial cross-sectional study of California ZIP codes.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The overdose crisis potentially increases risk factors for suicide while decreasing resources available to help those in need. This study sought to determine whether acute increases in drug or alcohol overdoses increase suicide rates.

Methods

This serial cross-sectional study used comprehensive emergency department, hospital discharge, and mortality data for ZIP-code-months in California, March 2010-December 2018 (n = 163,240). Overdose spikes were defined as ZIP-code-months with rates >2 standard deviations above expected. We used confounder-adjusted Bayesian Poisson space-time misalignment models to estimate whether overdose spikes, lagged 0-6 months, were associated with the rate of suicide (overall and by firearm involvement).

Results

Overdose spi

SUBMITTER: Pear VA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12808566 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature