Black people are dying from opioid OD in Philly at alarming rates since COVID-19

In @JAMANetworkOpen, we use public data to compare fatal/nonfatal OD in months after stay-at-home to months immediately before & months year prior. Here’s what we found /1 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2775360?resultClick=1

Black people experienced > 50% INCREASE in fatal opiate OD during COVID compared to up to 31% DECREASE among white people. This is 1st time in recent Philly history that absolute # of Black ppl with opioid OD is higher than white ppl. 2/

The impact of COVID-19 on Black communities has been devastating. Not just disease/death, but social-economic consequences - job loss, threat of eviction, food insecurity, surging gun violence. And sadly, we can add disproportionate opioid overdose to that list. /3

We suspect a similar trend in other cities but could not find other public data stratified by race. Similar to calls in early days of COVID, we strongly recommend cities analyze and release their opioid data by race. This is the only way to spot a problem in real time. /4

Many potential reasons for the disparity we show, including changes in drug markets leading to increased fentanyl in certain communities, increased stress from COVID and socioeconomic consequences, increased barriers to treatment during shutdown, to name a few. /5

Several limitations with using public data, including unable to determine if opioid use was known (fentanyl) or unknown (stimulants contaminated with fentanyl). /6

Thank you to leader of this project @UtshaKhatriMD, as well as city collaborators @PHLPublicHealth and @PhillyFireDept - @KendraViner and others, @zacharymeisel. Fin

cc: @DrAyanaJordan @MaxJordan_N @kit_delgadoMD @JMPerroneMD @nicolemodonnell @UREssien @uche_blackstock