ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2021
Community overdose surveillance: Comparing substances collected from the death scene investigation to toxicology results.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Examining trends in polydrug overdose deaths across rural Midwest counties in the United States, 2022 through 2024.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- Is fentanyl in everything? Examining the unexpected occurrence of illicit opioids in British Columbia's drug supply.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Opioid agonist therapy discontinuation in British Columbia: a cross-sectional study of people who access harm reduction services.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Ventilatory Effects of Fentanyl, Heroin, andThe Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2024Article
- Enhancing drug checking services for supply monitoring: perspectives on implementation in syringe service programs in the USA.Harm reduction journal · 2024Review
- A survey of North American drug checking services operating in 2022.The International journal on drug policy · 2023Article
- Reversing the trend: a scoping review of health innovation transfer or exchange from low- and middle-income countries to high-income countries.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Current attitudes toward drug checking services and a comparison of expected with actual drugs present in street drug samples collected from opioid users.Harm reduction journal · 2023Article
- Buprenorphine and opioid analgesics: Dispensation and discontinuity among accidental overdose fatalities in the Indianapolis metropolitan area, 2016-2021.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Article
- Community overdose surveillance: Fentanyl involvement in overdose deaths in rural Michigan.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2023Article
- Patterns of polysubstance use and clinical comorbidity among persons seeking substance use treatment: An observational study.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2023Observational
- Reciprocal innovation: A new approach to equitable and mutually beneficial global health partnerships.Global public health · 2023Article
- Advancing humanized monoclonal antibody for counteracting fentanyl toxicity towards clinical development.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2022Article
- Prevalence and correlates of incarceration following emergency medical services response to overdose.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRecent overdose trends are characterized by increased toxicological detection of stimulants with opioids, yet it is unclear whether these substances are mixed prior to consumption or purposefully used simultaneously.
methodsPostmortem toxicology data were collected in Marion County, Indiana, from 45 fatal overdose cases involving heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, or cocaine. Substances found by death scene investigators at the scene of the fatal overdose (57 samples) were tested using high-pressure liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry (LC-MS) technology. We compared toxicology and LC-MS results to understand whether substances contributing to overdose were found in combination or separately at the scene of the overdose.
resultsComparing toxicology reports with LC-MS results from substances found at the scene of overdose deaths involving opioids and stimulants reveal that deaths are largely the result of the co-use of opioids and stimulants, rather than use of stimulants combined with opioids.
conclusionsCollecting and testing physical samples from fatal overdose scenes and comparing these to post-mortem toxicology results is a new way to examine polydrug use patterns. This community overdose surveillance method can be used to improve overdose prevention and response efforts.
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