Assessing Spatial Relationships between Prescription Drugs, Race, and Overdose in New York State from 2013 to 2015

Over the last decade, New York State has experienced one of the greatest increases in opioid overdose deaths in the United States, particularly from heroin and synthetic opioids. This study investigated spatial patterns in the distribution of county-level rates of overdose deaths in New York State and associations between prescriptions for opioid pain relievers, race, and overdose deaths from 2013-2015. Global and local Moran's I tests for spatial autocorrelation examined Bayesian smoothed rates of overdose for clusters of counties with high and low rates of overdose mortality. Getis Ord* analyses identified local hotspots of high and low clusters of overdose. Model performance indicators selected the best-fitting spatial regression model to examine associations between prescriptions for opioid pain relievers, race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White, Black, and Hispanic) after adjusting for spatial dependence in the data. Socio-demographic characteristics of clusters were examined. Findings suggest rates of opioid overdose deaths are clustered in New York. Rates of prescription opioids were associated with rates of overdose from any opioid, prescription pain relievers, and synthetic opioids. Greater populations of African Americans were associated with greater rates of heroin overdose death rates. Findings from this study inform public health opioid overdose prevention interventions and policies.