Associations Between Short-Term Ambient Temperature Exposure and Emergency Department Visits for Amphetamine, Cocaine, and Opioid Use in California from 2005 to 2019

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chang HH ; D'Souza RR ; Ebelt ST ; Gribble MO ; Latimore AD ; Murray BP ; Scovronick N ; Zhang H
• Description:
  Substance use disorder is a growing public health challenge in the United States. People who use drugs may be more vulnerable to ambient heat due to the effects of drugs on thermoregulation and their risk environment. There have been limited population-based studies of ambient temperature and drug-related morbidity. We examined short-term associations between daily ambient temperature and emergency department (ED) visits for use or overdose of amphetamine, cocaine and opioids in California during the period 2005 to 2019. Daily ZIP code-level maximum, mean, and minimum temperature exposures were derived from 1-km data Daymet products. A time-stratified case-crossover design was used to estimate cumulative non-linear associations of daily temperature for lag days 0 to 3. Stratified analyses by patient sex, race, and ethnicity were also conducted. The study included over 3.4 million drug-related ED visits. We found positive associations between daily temperature and ED visits for all outcomes examined. An increase in daily mean temperature from the 50th to the 95th percentile was associated with ED visits for amphetamine use (OR = 1.072, 95% CI: 1.058, 1.086), cocaine use (OR = 1.044, 95% CI: 1.021, 1.068 and opioid use (OR = 1.041, 95% CI: 1.025, 1.057). Stronger positive associations were also observed for overdose: amphetamine overdose (OR = 1.150, 95% CI: 1.085, 1.218), cocaine overdose (OR = 1.159, 95% CI: 1.053, 1.276), and opioid overdose (OR = 1.079, 95% CI: 1.054, 1.106). In summary, people who use stimulants and opioids may be a subpopulation sensitive to short-term higher ambient temperature. Mitigating heat exposure can be considered in harm reduction strategies in response to the substance use epidemic and global climate change. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Emergency Responders Hot Temperature Occupational Health Safety Temperature
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Substance Use Cocaine Drug Overdose Emergency Care Heat Heat Exposure Opioid Opioids Overdose Stimulant Stimulants Substance Use Temperature Effects

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• ISSN:
  0160-4120
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; California ; Georgia ; Maryland ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  181
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069754
• Citation:
  Environ Int 2023 Nov; 181:108233
• Contact Point Address:
  Howard H. Chang, 1518 Clifton Rd., NE Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
• Email:
  wluac@berkeley.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Amphetamine (CAS RN 300-62-9) ; Cocaine (CAS RN 50-36-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Berkeley
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Environment International
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:464a650c4f0a176e22234f3650f21663865e1bbefe0828965baa584a6a1e656af19df94ff06d281a27a4327e93c51876c0be7d7a40d9e790a8cb068b36ebb8e5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208114/cdc_208114_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.93 MB ]