Sadia Akbar, Anita Iacono, Joanna Yang, Tony Antoniou, David Juurlink, Hasan Sheikh, Paul Kurdyak, Fangyun Wu, Clare Cheng, Pamela Leece, Gillian Kolla, Jennifer Emblem, Dana Shearer, Tara Gomes
PURPOSE: To characterize opioid toxicity deaths among adolescents and young adults in Ontario, Canada, prior to and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We conducted a descriptive, cross-sectional study of opioid toxicity deaths among individuals aged 15-24 in Ontario in the year prior to (March 17, 2019, to March 16, 2020) and the first year of the pandemic (March 17, 2020, to March 16, 2021) using administrative health databases. We analyzed circumstances surrounding death, substances contributing to death, and health-care encounters prior to death...
April 9, 2024: Journal of Adolescent Health