IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0304256.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Examining the relationship between social determinants of health, measures of structural racism and county-level overdose deaths from 2017–2020

Author

Listed:
  • Zoe Lindenfeld
  • Diana Silver
  • José A Pagán
  • Donglan Stacy Zhang
  • Ji Eun Chang

Abstract

Introduction: Despite being an important determinant of health outcomes, measures of structural racism are lacking in studies examining the relationship between the social determinants of health (SDOH) and overdose deaths. The aim of this study is to examine the association between per capita revenue generated from fines and forfeitures, a novel measure of structural racism, and other SDOH with county-level overdose deaths from 2017–2020. Methods: This longitudinal analysis of 2,846 counties from 2017–2020 used bivariate and multivariate Generalized Estimating Equations models to estimate associations between county overdose mortality rates and SDOH characteristics, including the fines and forfeitures measure. Results: In our multivariate model, higher per capita fine and forfeiture revenue (5.76; CI: 4.76, 6.78), households receiving food stamps (1.15; CI: 0.77, 1.53), residents that are veterans (1.07; CI: 0.52, 1.63), substance use treatment availability (4.69; CI: 3.03, 6.33) and lower population density (-0.002; CI: -0.004, -0.001) and percent of Black residents (-0.7`; CI: -1.01, -0.42) were significantly associated with higher overdose death rates. There was a significant additive interaction between the fines and forfeitures measure (0.10; CI: 0.03, 0.17) and the percent of Black residents. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that structural racism, along with other SDOH, is associated with overdose deaths. Future research should focus on connecting individual-level data on fines and forfeitures to overdose deaths and other health outcomes, include measures of justice-related fines, such as court fees, and assess whether interventions aimed at increasing economic vitality in disadvantaged communities impact overdose deaths in a meaningful way.

Suggested Citation

  • Zoe Lindenfeld & Diana Silver & José A Pagán & Donglan Stacy Zhang & Ji Eun Chang, 2024. "Examining the relationship between social determinants of health, measures of structural racism and county-level overdose deaths from 2017–2020," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-11, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0304256
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304256
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0304256
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0304256&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0304256?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dasgupta, N. & Beletsky, L. & Ciccarone, D., 2018. "Opioid Crisis: No Easy Fix to Its Social and Economic Determinants," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 108(2), pages 182-186.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicky J. Mehtani & Chika C. Chuku & Meredith C. Meacham & Eric Vittinghoff & Samantha E. Dilworth & Elise D. Riley, 2023. "Housing Instability Associated with Return to Stimulant Use among Previously Abstaining Women," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(19), pages 1-10, September.
    2. Weiss, Max & Zoorob, Michael, 2021. "Political frames of public health crises: Discussing the opioid epidemic in the US Congress," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    3. William Encinosa & Didem Bernard & Thomas M. Selden, 2022. "Opioid and non-opioid analgesic prescribing before and after the CDC’s 2016 opioid guideline," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-52, March.
    4. Aaron R Kaufman & Eitan D Hersh, 2020. "The political consequences of opioid overdoses," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-10, August.
    5. Deiana, Claudio & Giua, Ludovica & Nistico, Roberto, 2019. "The Economics behind the Epidemic: Afghan Opium Price and Prescription Opioids in the US," IZA Discussion Papers 12872, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 2021. "Prescription opioids and new business establishments," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1175-1199, October.
    7. Shannon M. Monnat, 2022. "Demographic and Geographic Variation in Fatal Drug Overdoses in the United States, 1999–2020," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 50-78, September.
    8. Aliprantis, Dionissi & Fee, Kyle & Schweitzer, Mark E., 2023. "Opioids and the labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Sean F Altekruse & Candace M Cosgrove & William C Altekruse & Richard A Jenkins & Carlos Blanco, 2020. "Socioeconomic risk factors for fatal opioid overdoses in the United States: Findings from the Mortality Disparities in American Communities Study (MDAC)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, January.
    10. Mitchell, Penelope & Samsel, Steven & Curtin, Kevin M. & Price, Ashleigh & Turner, Daniel & Tramp, Ryan & Hudnall, Matthew & Parton, Jason & Lewis, Dwight, 2022. "Geographic disparities in access to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder across US census tracts based on treatment utilization behavior," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    11. Lindsey Richardson & Anita Minh & Deb McCormack & Allison Laing & Skye Barbic & Kanna Hayashi & M.-J. Milloy & Kimberly R. Huyser & Kathleen Leahy & Johanna Li, 2022. "Cohort Profile: The Assessing Economic Transitions (ASSET) Study—A Community-Based Mixed-Methods Study of Economic Engagement among Inner-City Residents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-24, August.
    12. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 0. "Prescription opioids and new business establishments," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-25.
    13. Yang, Tse-Chuan & Shoff, Carla & Kim, Seulki, 2022. "Social isolation, residential stability, and opioid use disorder among older Medicare beneficiaries: Metropolitan and non-metropolitan county comparison," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    14. Wei-Hsuan Lo-Ciganic & Julie M Donohue & Eric G Hulsey & Susan Barnes & Yuan Li & Courtney C Kuza & Qingnan Yang & Jeanine Buchanich & James L Huang & Christina Mair & Debbie L Wilson & Walid F Gellad, 2021. "Integrating human services and criminal justice data with claims data to predict risk of opioid overdose among Medicaid beneficiaries: A machine-learning approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-18, March.
    15. Sun, Feinuo, 2022. "Rurality and opioid prescribing rates in U.S. counties from 2006 to 2018: A spatiotemporal investigation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    16. Rajeev Darolia & Sam Owens & John Tyler, 2022. "The Opioid Crisis and Educational Performance," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 703(1), pages 188-233, September.
    17. Daniele, Gianmarco & Le Moglie, Marco & Masera, Federico, 2023. "Pains, guns and moves: The effect of the U.S. opioid epidemic on Mexican migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    18. Glei, Dana A. & Stokes, Andrew & Weinstein, Maxine, 2020. "Changes in mental health, pain, and drug misuse since the mid-1990s: Is there a link?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    19. Shishir Shakya & Collin Hodges, 2023. "Must‐access prescription drug monitoring programs and retail opioid sales," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(1), pages 146-165, January.
    20. Peter Congdon, 2020. "Geographical Aspects of Recent Trends in Drug-Related Deaths, with a Focus on Intra-National Contextual Variation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0304256. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.