ArticleScandinavian journal of public health2023
Increases in drug overdose deaths in Norway and the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Scandinavian journal of public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Economic evaluation of diversion programs for people with drug-related legal involvement: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- 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
- Opioid Regulation of Social Homeostasis: Connecting Loneliness to Addiction.Biological psychiatry · 2025Review
- Microphysiological system to address the opioid crisis: A novel multi-organ model of acute opioid overdose and recovery.Current research in toxicology · 2025Article
- Drug involvement variations in overdose death spikes: county-level analysis in Massachusetts.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 and all-cause mortality in persons with co-occurring substance use disorder and mental illness during the pandemic: a Norwegian cohort study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- Effect of Risk Mitigation Guidance opioid and stimulant dispensations on mortality and acute care visits during dual public health emergencies: retrospective cohort study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2024Article
- Patterns & Predictors of Telehealth Utilization Among Individuals Who Use Substances: Implications for the Future of Virtual Behavioral Health Services.Community mental health journal · 2024Article
- Smartphone-based drug testing in the hands of patients with substance-use disorder-a usability study.Frontiers in digital health · 2024Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionLittle international comparative work exists describing pandemic-related spikes in overdose and related implications for drug and public health policy. We compared increases in overdose deaths during the pandemic in Norway and the United States, two countries in the top 10 for per-capita overdose mortality, yet with very different approaches to the pandemic, healthcare and drug policy.
methodsWe examined monthly overdoses in 2020 versus baseline rates (the monthly average across 2017-2019). We compared excess overdose mortality to shifts in human mobility and social interaction, measured using cellphone-based mobility data, an indicator of the societal response to the pandemic.
resultsBoth the US and Norway saw large magnitude exacerbations in overdose mortality during the pandemic-related lockdowns, reaching 46.8% and 57.0% above baseline, respectively. Maximum increases occurred 2-3 months after peak reductions in mobility, suggesting lagged mechanisms. While overdose mortality returned to baseline relatively quickly in Norway, rates remained elevated in the US to the end of 2020.
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Registered trials
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