SynthesisSubstance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy2021
The impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on drug overdose-related deaths in the United States and Canada: a systematic review of observational studies and analysis of public health surveillance data.
Synthesis in Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Have Deaths of Despair Risen during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Description of implementing a mail-based overdose education and naloxone distribution program in community supervision settings during COVID-19.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Trial
- Identifying Demographic Predictors of Increased Nonfatal Opioid Overdose Risk Among New York State Medicaid Enrollees After the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Substance use and treatment utilization patterns of working-age American men who were not in employment, education, or training (NEET) during the COVID-19 pandemic.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2026Article
- Alcohol- and drug-related mortality in Brazil: an ecological and population-based study on changes observed during the COVID-19 pandemic.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Use of clinic- and community-based overdose prevention services by sex workers who use drugs: findings from a community-based cohort in Vancouver, Canada (2017-2024).Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Geographical Variation in SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Potential in Massachusetts.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Substance use and treatment utilization patterns of working-age American men who were not in employment, education, or training (NEET) during the COVID-19 pandemic.Research square · 2026Article
- Substance use and treatment utilization patterns of working-age American men who were not in employment, education, or training (NEET) during the COVID-19 pandemic.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Post-overdose outreach programs in Massachusetts before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- Harnessing telemedicine to deliver patient-centered opioid agonist treatment within a community-based harm reduction service: a mixed methods evaluation.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Changes in Drug-Induced Hospitalisations and Deaths During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Overall and substance use-specific healthcare utilization among individuals with and without criminal justice involvement in Ontario, Canada.International journal of prison health · 2025Article
- Programmatic, Environmental, and Temporal Predictors of Violence, Overdose, and Self-Injury in Homeless Shelters in Toronto, Canada, 2012-2021.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2025Article
- "The people who depended on us became expendable": Experiences of frontline workers with lived and living expertise of drug use during the COVID-19 pandemic.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Trends in Drug and Polysubstance-Related Deaths in the State of Texas: County Comparisons.Cureus · 2025Article
- Rising out-of-hospital mortality in Canada during 2020‒2022: A striking impact observed among young adults.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2025Article
- Variations in Poisoning Epidemiology and Management During the Initial COVID-19 Outbreak in a Taiwanese Emergency Department.International journal of general medicine · 2025Article
- The decriminalization of illicit drugs in British Columbia: a national evaluation protocol.BMC public health · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Experience at an Academic Medical Examiner's Office.Academic forensic pathology · 2024Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere are preliminary indications that the trajectory of drug overdose-related deaths in North America has been exacerbated due to the novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). As such, the impact of COVID-19 on drug overdose-related deaths was examined through a systematic review of the literature and percentage change analyses of surveillance data.
methodsSystematic searches in electronic databases were conducted, a topical issue brief and bibliography were reviewed, reference lists of included studies were searched and expert consultations were held to identify studies (Registration # CRD42021230223). Observational studies from the United States and Canada were eligible for inclusion if drug overdose-related deaths were assessed in quantitative or qualitative analyses onwards from at least March 2020. In addition, percentage changes comparing drug overdose-related deaths in the second annual quarter (Q2 2020 [April to June]) with the first annual quarter (Q1 2020 [January to March]) were generated using national and subnational data from public health surveillance systems and reports from jurisdictions in the United States and Canada.
resultsNine studies were included in the systematic review, eight from the United States and one from Canada. The maximum outcome assessment period in the included studies extended until September 2020. Drug overdose-related deaths after the onset of COVID-19 were higher compared with the months leading up to the pandemic in 2020 and the comparative months in 2019. In additional percentage change analyses, drug overdose-related deaths increased by 2 to 60% in jurisdictions in the United States and by 58% in Canada when comparing Q2 2020 with Q1 2020.
conclusionsDrug overdose-related deaths increased after the onset of COVID-19. The current situation necessitates a multi-pronged approach, encompassing expanded access to substance use disorder treatment, undisrupted access to harm reduction services, emphasis on risk reduction strategies, provision of a safe drug supply and decriminalization of drug use.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.