Linking Opioid-Overdose Data to Human Services and Criminal Justice Data: Opportunities for Intervention

In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, the incidence of opioid-related overdose deaths increased from 17.4 per 100 000 population in 2008 to 23.9 per 100 000 population in 2014. Our objectives were to describe local demographic characteristics of this epidemic, identify public human services targets for intervention, determine temporal relationships between use of public human services and overdose mortality, and provide recommendations about potentially beneficial interventions.

We used autopsy data from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner to link people who died of overdoses from 2008 through 2014 to their premortem incarcerations and use of mental health services and substance use disorder services. We calculated the frequency of use of public human services by decedents and the interval between the last use of these services and overdose death.

Of the 1399 decedents, 957 (68.4%) had a public human service encounter before overdose death. Of these 957 decedents, 531 (55.5%) had ever been incarcerated, 616 (64.4%) had ever used a mental health service, and 702 (73.4%) had ever used a substance use disorder service. Of 211 decedents incarcerated in the year before their overdose death, 54 (25.6%) overdosed within 30 days of their last release from jail. Of 510 decedents using mental health services in the year before death, 231 (45.3%) overdosed within 30 days of their last use of the services. Of 350 decedents using substance use disorder services in the year before their overdose death, 134 (38.3%) overdosed within 30 days of their last use of the services.

Merging data on overdose mortality with data on use of public human services can be a useful strategy to identify trends in, and factors contributing to, the opioid epidemic; to target interventions; and to stimulate collaboration to address the epidemic.