Linked administrative data as surveillance of overdose crisis and drug-related adverse health events in New Jersey

The overdose crisis continues to have a devastating public health impact in New Jersey and nationwide. This proposal seeks to address Research Priority #1: Informing New Jersey’s integrated approach to addressing the opioid epidemic. The primary objective of this proposal is to identify high-risk individuals who use opioids by leveraging the utility of emergency medical services naloxone administration data as a surveillance tool for opioid overdoses, and secondarily to examine other morbidities for people who inject drugs including opioids via hospital discharge data. We propose linking data sets that include mortality data, emergency services data, and hospital discharge data across multiple time points. The primary outcome of Aim 1 of this proposed project is overdose mortality, both overall and by cause of death (COD), following the most recent non-fatal overdose event (2017-2020). Aim 2 will include the overall frequency of hospital visits for serious bacterial infections for individuals visiting New Jersey hospitals from 2010 to 2020. Linked administrative data will be used to follow individuals across hospital systems and will identify incidence of suspected SBIs as well as frequency of related hospital visits for a given individual, along with deaths post hospital release. By doing so, this proposed project could inform future policy initiatives in New Jersey focused on harm reduction service provision and health disparities. The dissemination plan ensures that the research findings are shared broadly with relevant stakeholders, including researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.