Estimating the prevalence of brain injury among people who had an illicit drug-related overdose in British Columbia, Canada Chloé Xavier

TEAM: Chloé Xavier, Margot Kuo, Roshni Desai, Gemma Regan, Bin Zhao, Wen Qi Gan, Amanda K. Slaunwhite Case reports, community members, and media sources are increasingly identifying brain injury (BI) among people who had a drug-related overdose as a significant health issue with major implications for health and long-term care provision. The aim of this study was to examine the association between BI and illicit drug-related overdoses in BC between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017. This study is the first to estimate the prevalence ratio of BI among people who have had an overdose in a population based sample. Our findings demonstrate a significant association between BI and overdose, after adjusting for sex, age, mental illness and substance use disorder iagnoses, and income. This association highlights the potential devastating effect of the toxic drug supply on severe hypoxic and anoxic overdose events.

BC CDC Presenters

10/14/2020 5:45:00 PM