Community-Level Overdose Concentration: Assessing the Macro-Level Patterns and Predictors of Drug Overdose Death Rates across U.S. Locales

• In Event: Communities and Place: Concentrations of Crime and Poor Health

Abstract

Drug overdose deaths have risen dramatically in recent decades, more than tripling since 1999 and surpassing even the peak number of deaths resulting from the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s. Public Health researchers and agencies have closely monitored the growing drug overdose epidemic. However, most of this work has been at the individual-level, documenting why, where, and how people use and abuse illicit substances, and in turn, how best to identify and treat individuals at risk of overdose. In contrast, research has produced little information about macro- or community-level overdose patterns. As a result, it is unclear how the current drug epidemic varies across different types of places throughout the United States and why it is highly concentrated in some communities and groups, while others have seen little change in fatal drug use over time. The current project seeks to address this gap in research by exploring the community-level sources of overdose death concentration across locales throughout the United States from 1999 to 2015. Specifically, we use the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Multiple Cause of Death Mortality files combined with data on community social, economic, and health indicators drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau and public health agencies to identify the community-level patterns and predictors of overdose death rates across U.S. counties. Implications of our findings for research and theory on communities and crime, drug abuse, and macro-level criminology are discussed.

Authors

• Ben Feldmeyer, University of Cincinnati

• Diana Sun, University of Cincinnati

• Teresa C. Kulig, University of Nebraska at Omaha

• Francis T. Cullen, University of Cincinnati

• Cecilia Chouhy, Florida State University