Jobs can help prevent overdose deaths
Greater employment opportunities can help prevent Black Americans from dying of drug overdose, a recent study in the American Journal of Public Health finds.
Researchers compared data on drug overdose deaths from 200 U.S. counties to the number of jobs per Black worker. They found that one additional job per 100 Black workers was associated with 0.29 fewer drug overdose deaths per 100,000 Black population.
The association was strongest in areas where law enforcement seizure of fentanyl has increased in recent years. Most often sold at the street level, fentanyl disproportionately harms people who live in areas with low employment opportunities, previous research has shown. Illicit use of the prescription painkiller drug has been on the rise.
Drug overdose deaths among Black Americans rose sharply in the U.S. during the 2010s, with the highest increases in Midwest and Northeast counties, the new study found. Counties with a lower median household income were most affected.
The rise in deaths is linked to economic changes that led to fewer living-wage jobs as well as the increasing availability of heroin and opioids, the researchers said. People who are un- or underemployed can feel hopelessness, frustration, anxiety or other mental health symptoms, leading them to seek relief through illicit substances.
Nearly 108,000 people in the U.S. died of a drug overdose from illicit or prescription drugs in 2022, according to March data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Black Americans experienced an overdose rate of 47.5 per 100,000 people, compared to 35.6 per 100,000 white people.
Heat waves linked to millions of deaths
More than 153,000 deaths around the world are linked to heat waves annually, according to a new study.
Published May 14 in PLOS Medicine, the study attributed millions of deaths that occurred from 1990 to 2019 to periods of extremely high temperatures that lasted for at least several days.
Asia experienced the highest number of heat wave deaths — accounting for nearly half the worldwide total — but Europe had the highest rate per population, at 655 deaths per 10 million residents. Southern and Eastern Europe, in particular, had significantly high rates of heat wave deaths, with Greece, Malta and Italy at the top of the list.
Globally, an average of 236 deaths per 10 million people were associated with heat waves during the study period, with wide variation by region. North America experienced a rate of 147 deaths per 10 million residents; sub-Saharan Africa, 227 per 10 million; and Southern Asia, 257 per 10 million. Latin America and the Caribbean had the lowest rate, at 62 deaths per 10 million people.
Higher rates of heat wave-related deaths were found in areas with dry climates and lower-middle incomes. Regions with tropical climates or low incomes experienced a decline in associated deaths across the three-decade study period.
As global temperatures continue to rise from human-caused climate change, heat waves are expected to occur more often and become hotter. Since 1880, the average global temperature has increased 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit, with most of the warming occurring since 1975. A new study in Nature this week estimated that 2023 was the hottest summer in the Northern Hemisphere in the past 2,000 years, based on data from tree rings.
In the U.S., heat waves disproportionately kill many people of color, older adults, people with low incomes and those with chronic health conditions.
Disparities in childhood obesity increasing
Racial and ethnic disparities in childhood obesity have widened in New York City, even as overall rates there have fallen, a new study finds.
From 2011 to 2020, obesity rates among students in the city’s public schools fell overall by 2.8%, and rates for severe obesity fell by 0.2%, according to the study, which was published May 15 in PLOS One. But starting in 2016, near-steady increases in obesity were seen among Black and Hispanic students — even as rates held level for white, Asian and Pacific Islander students.
As of the 2019-2020 school year, 20.9% of kindergarten through eighth-grade students in New York City had obesity and 6.4% had severe obesity, as defined by body mass index percentiles set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth living in poverty and students who were born outside the U.S. were at higher risk for the conditions, the study found.
The city’s growing disparities track with recent national trends. As of March 2020, about 19.7% of all U.S. children and adolescents had obesity, adding up to about 14.7 million youth, according to CDC. Rates were highest for Hispanic and Black children and lowest for Asian children. The risk for obesity increased as family income decreased.
Black or Hispanic youth account for 65% of New York City’s more than 1 million public school students. About 73% of students are from low-income households, according to the New York City Department of Education.
Maternal mental health needs more attention, report says
Most U.S. states are failing to do enough to support the mental health of people who are pregnant or have recently given birth, a new report card says.
Released May 14 by the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, the report found that the U.S. has made little progress at improving maternal mental health, awarding the nation overall a “D+” grade for its work.
The same grade or lower was given to 29 states, which were assessed based on their ratios of mental health providers, number of treatment programs, screening rates, Medicaid coverage and other factors.
Only four states — California, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington — received a B- or higher in the report. California received the highest score of “B+” and was ranked highly for prenatal and postnatal mental health screenings and for convening a task force on maternal mental health care. Health providers in the state are required by law to offer such screenings at least once during or after pregnancy.
Mental health- and substance use-related deaths — including suicide and drug overdoses — are the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About 20% of people struggle with mental health issues or substance use during pregnancy or after they have given birth.
On May 14, the U.S. Task Force on Maternal Mental Health released a new National Strategy to Improve Maternal Mental Health Care. The plan calls for more accessible and affordable care, a greater focus on reducing racial and ethnic disparities and increases in prevention outreach, among other recommendations.
Other public health news of interest this week includes:
• The U.S. Department of Labor is moving closer to issuing a national standard that would help protect workers from dangerous levels of heat on the job.
• Exposure to endocrine disrupters — such as chemicals used in plastics, toys and personal care products — in early infancy is associated with increased weight in early childhood, a study in Environmental Health Perspectives says.
• Black women are more likely than people from other racial and ethnic groups to report being treated unfairly by a health care provider, a KFF analysis finds.
• A new final rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is striving to cut mercury, benzene and other toxic air emissions from copper smelters.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.
