ArticleCanadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique2025
Opioid-related deaths in Northern Ontario in the early COVID-19 pandemic period.
Article in Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mapping the overdose crisis in Ontario: geographic disparities in opioid-related harms and services.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Geographical narcissism and Ontario's opioid crisis.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2025Article
- Responding to the toxic drug crisis: Promising innovations, gaps, and calls to action.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2025Article
- Employment industry and opioid overdose risk: A pre- and post-COVID-19 comparison in Kentucky and Massachusetts 2018-2021.Spatial and spatio-temporal epidemiology · 2025Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
objectivesIn the first year of pandemic measures, opioid-related deaths across Ontario's (ON) 34 public health units (PHUs) increased by 60%. Death rates for all seven Northern ON PHUs were above the provincial average. This study describes and compares factors surrounding opioid-related deaths before and after pandemic measures were introduced, for Northern ON compared to the rest of ON.
methodsAggregate data were provided for Northern ON and the rest of the province by the Office of the Chief Coroner/Ontario Forensic Pathology Services. Opioid-related deaths were cohorted by date of death for the year before and after pandemic measures were introduced on March 16, 2020. Chi-square tests were used to compare between cohorts and geographies to determine significant differences for each variable, and for dichotomized levels within variables. P-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant a priori.
resultsIn Northern ON, the number of opioid-related deaths approximately doubled from the pre-pandemic cohort (n = 185) to the early pandemic cohort (n = 365). Compared to the rest of ON, higher proportions of deaths occurred in Northern ON among individuals who lived and died in private residences, among women (although the majority of decedents were male) and among individuals employed in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas industries. Compared to the pre-pandemic year, in Northern ON, higher proportions of opioid-related deaths involved fentanyl and stimulants as direct contributors, and the majority involved evidence of inhaled drugs.
conclusionDifferences between the circumstances of death in Northern ON and in the rest of ON suggest opportunities to tailor interventions.
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