Impact of mandatory COVID-19 shelter-in-place order on controlled substance use among rural versus urban communities in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Mandatory COVID-19 shelter-in-place (SIP) orders have been imposed to fight the pandemic. They may also have led to unintended consequences of increased use of controlled substances especially among rural communities due to increased social isolation. Using the data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers, this study tests the hypothesis that the poison control centers received higher rates of calls related to exposures to controlled substances from rural counties than they did from urban counties during the SIP period.

Methods

Call counts received by the poison control centers between October 19, 2019 and July 6, 2020 due to exposure to controlled substance (methamphetamine, opioids, cocaine, benzodiazepines, and other narcotics) were aggregated to p

SUBMITTER: Maeng D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9349882 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature