Skip to main content

Homelessness Has Large Effect on Substance Use-Related Poisoning

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 8, 2024 -- Homelessness has a large effect on substance use disorder (SUD)-related poisonings, according to a study published in the February issue of Health Affairs.

W. David Bradford, Ph.D., and Felipe Lozano-Rojas, Ph.D., from the University of Georgia in Athens, estimated the causal impact of homelessness on SUD-related mortality using plausibly exogenous variation from a state's landlord-tenant policies that influence evictions. Data were obtained from 2007 to 2017.

The researchers found that homelessness had large effects on SUD-related poisonings; for example, there was a 3.2 percent increase in opioid poisonings in metropolitan areas in association with a 10 percent increase in homelessness. Across all metropolitan localities, reducing local homelessness rates from the 75th to the 50th percentile levels could have saved more than 1,900 lives from opioid overdoses in the last year of the study.

"Although homelessness is associated with substance-related policies, our first-stage models indicated that several landlord-tenant policies may be effective at mitigating homelessness," the authors write. "This should lead to a renewed interest in understanding the mechanisms through which such policies induce homelessness and SUD among the homeless population."

Abstract/Full Text

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted February 2024

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.