ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence reports2025
New methodology to improve tracking of Veteran overdose deaths and characterization of a population of Veteran overdose decedents in San Diego County.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Detecting Uncoded Self-Harm in Veterans' Electronic Health Records Using Positive and Unlabeled Learning: Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: National trends indicate that drug-related deaths among Veterans have been increasing from 2010 to 2019. The present study involves a recent analysis of drug mortality data for a single large Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System. The aims of the study included (1) the identification of VA patients with drug-related deaths, (2) patient characteristics and service utilization patterns of VA patients with drug-related deaths, and (3) the evaluation of existing internal tracking systems for monitoring drug-related deaths. Methods: This retrospective study matched VA enrollment records to San Diego County Medical Examiner (ME) data from January 2019 to June 2023. The records of individuals who died of a drug-related overdose in San Diego County were matched to VA medical records. Chart reviews were conducted to evaluate the extent to which intentional and accidental overdose events were documented in electronic medical records, and to examine demographic and clinical characteristics and healthcare utilization in Veterans who died by overdose. Results: From January 2019 to June 2023 there were a total of 140 drug overdose deaths, 91.4 % were accidental ( Discussion: Comparing VA records to county ME records revealed that VA records missed over 80 % of drug-related overdose deaths-4 out of every 5 deaths. While accurate for intentional overdoses, accidental overdoses-which comprise the vast majority of drug overdose deaths-were missing over 90 % of the time. Given that drug toxicology results were consistent with county trends, this suggests that VA records severely underestimate drug overdose deaths. Approximately two-thirds of VA patients who died of drug overdose access VA and most were seen in the emergency department and over half in primary care-identifying these as important intervention targets for overdose prevention. Given the gaps in capturing drug overdose deaths, other healthcare systems looking to prevent overdose deaths, and especially other VA systems, may want to consider adopting similar methods to better capture and understand factors that impact drug overdose deaths among their patient populations.
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