307838
Hot Spot Analysis of the Spatial Differences Between Drug Attributed and Alcohol Attributed Mortality in the US
Objective: Differentiate the spatial distribution of alcohol and drug-related US mortality.
Methods: County-level, overall, age-adjusted mortality rates for CDC-defined conditions that are 100% attributable to alcohol and 100% attributable to illicit drugs during the years 2000-2009 were obtained from the CDC WONDER public web site. Hot spot analyses (Gedis Ord G* statistic) were conducted using GIS software.
Results: Multiple hot spots were detected for mortality 100% attributable to drugs, with one large, geographic hot spot centered in Appalachia at the convergence of KY, TN, VA, and WV. Hot spots for mortality 100% attributable to alcohol were most concentrated along the west coast into NM and AZ and 90% of American Indian tribal lands were proximal to the counties reporting the highest categories of for alcohol mortality.
Conclusions: Co-location of a large mortality hot spot for death from illicit drugs with previously reported cluster for death from accidental poisoning is consistent with the hypothesis of a continuum of mortality from acute to chronic drug use in Appalachia. Spatial differentiation of illicit drug-related and alcohol-related mortality supports toxin-specific, place-based targeting of potentially preventable mortality from these causes.
Learning Areas:
EpidemiologyLearning Objectives:
Differentiate the spatial distribution of alcohol and drug-related US mortality.
Keyword(s): Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Mortality
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Robert Levine, MD, is an experienced preventive medicine and public health physician who has worked with county, state, national, and international public health organizations. He is certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and is Director of Research for the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Meharry Medical College. He has had a long-standing academic interest in the geography of disease, dating from studies of lung cancer in northern Florida during the 1970’s.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.