Recovery Risk Environment and Opioid Overdose

• In Event: Harm Reduction? Reducing Overdoses and Other Drug-Related Harms

Abstract

Background: The opioid epidemic continues to be a pervasive public health crisis in the United States, with an estimated 130 daily opioid-overdose fatalities. Understanding the extent and complexity of this epidemic requires a thorough examination of the social and environmental risk factors that contribute to opioid misuse and overdose.

Methods: This study combines individual-level data collected from two Chestnut Health Systems experiments that target individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are at risk of overdose: the Recovery Initiation and Management After Overdose (RIMO) and the Justice Community Innovation Network (JCOIN) Recovery Management Check-up–Adapted (RMC-A) experiments. Using demographic and social data collected from participants at baseline (N=425) we developed a Recovery Environmental Risk Index (RERI) comprised of several key indicators of environmental risk. This scale is comprised of 11 total items (α=0.7) and scores range from .3 to 81.8, with a median of 27.1. A negative binomial regression is used to assess the association of the RERI on number of lifetime opioid overdoses among participants controlling for relevant demographic features.

Results: Regression results indicate that higher scores on the RERI were significantly associated with higher risk of lifetime overdose (IR =1.15, p < 0.05).

Authors

• Caroline Brooke Allen, University of Cincinnati / Lighthouse Institute

• Christine Grella, Lighthouse Institute / Chestnut Health Systems