ArticleCMAJ open
Relation between opioid-related harms and socioeconomic inequalities in Ontario: a population-based descriptive study.
Article in CMAJ open. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of suicidality in opioid use disorder: a pilot feasibility randomized controlled trial.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Trial
- Dual Epidemics in Toronto: Shared and Divergent Neighborhood Risks of COVID-19 and Opioid Mortality from a Joint Spatial and Temporal Analysis.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026Article
- Socioeconomic inequities in drug poisoning deaths in Canada.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2026Article
- Predicting drug overdose and death after "before medically advised" hospital discharge.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025Article
- Association of globalization with the burden of opioid use disorders 2019. A country-level analysis using targeted maximum likelihood estimation.Globalization and health · 2023Article
- Public transport access to drug treatment before and during COVID-19: Implications for the opioid epidemic.The International journal on drug policy · 2023Article
- Stepping up to the Canadian opioid crisis: a longitudinal analysis of the correlation between socioeconomic status and population rates of opioid-related mortality, hospitalization and emergency department visits (2000-2017).Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2022Article
- Opioid use and social disadvantage in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Perspectives of Stakeholders of Equitable Access to Community Naloxone Programs: A Literature Review.Cureus · 2022Review
- Racial, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Discrepancies in Opioid Prescriptions Among Older Patients With Cancer.JCO oncology practice · 2021Observational
- Do statutory holidays impact the number of opioid-related hospitalizations among Canadian adults? Findings from a national case-crossover study.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2021Article
- Article
- Association between mothers' postoperative opioid prescriptions and opioid-related events in their children: A population-based cohort study.Health reports · 2020Article
- Evaluation of opioid discontinuation after non-orthopaedic surgery among chronic opioid users: a population-based cohort study.British journal of anaesthesia · 2020Article
- Factors Associated With Opiate Use Among Psychiatric Inpatients: A Population-Based Study of Hospital Admissions in Ontario, Canada.Health services insights · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNegative health outcomes associated with the use of both prescribed and nonprescribed opioids are increasingly prevalent. We examined long-term trends in opioid-related harms in Ontario across a set of 6 indicators and the relation between harms and neighbourhood income in 2016.
methodsWe examined rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome, opioid poisoning (fatal and nonfatal) and nonpoisoning opioid-related events from 2003 to 2016 in Ontario using population-based health administrative databases. We conducted descriptive analyses for harm indicators across neighbourhood income quintiles in 2016 (2015 for death). We examined social inequalities in opioid-related harms on both relative (prevalence ratio) and absolute (potential rate reduction) scales.
resultsRates of opioid-related harms increased dramatically between 2003 and 2016. In 2016, neonatal abstinence syndrome and opioid poisoning and nonpoisoning events showed a strong social gradient, with harm rates being lowest in higher-income neighbourhoods and highest in lower-income neighbourhoods. Prevalence ratios for the lowest-income neighbourhoods compared to the highest-income neighbourhoods ranged from 2.36 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.15-2.58) for emergency department visits for opioid poisoning to 3.70 (95% CI 2.62-5.23) for neonatal abstinence syndrome. Potential rate reductions for opioid-related harms ranged from 34.8% (95% CI 29.1-40.1) to 49.9% (95% CI 36.7-60.5), which suggests that at least one-third of all harmful events could be prevented if all neighbourhoods had the same socioeconomic profile as the highest-income neighbourhoods.
interpretationRates of opioid-related harms increased in Ontario between 2003 and 2016, and people in lower-income neighbourhoods experienced substantially higher rates of opioid-related harms than those in higher-income neighbourhoods. This finding can inform planning for opioid-related public health interventions with consideration of health equity.
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