The Behavioral Health Harms of Youth Exposure to Gun Violence: A Rhode Island Example.

Background: Youth exposure to gun violence is increasing and we must better understand its impact on mental health and substance use disorders in young adults.

Methods: The 2024 Rhode Island Young Adult Survey recruited n=1,008 young adults. Multivariable logistic regressions were used for mental illness and substance use disorder outcomes on exposure to gun violence in childhood while controlling for sexual and gender identity, race/ethnicity, age, and social ladder.

Enhanced Emergency Medical Services Case Definition to Identify Suspected Nonfatal Opioid Overdose-Related Incidents in Rhode Island.

Objectives: To improve rapid detection and response to spikes in suspected nonfatal opioid overdoses in the community, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) sought to modify its case definition to align with newly released guidance from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE).

Methods: RIDOH used CSTE guidance to create 2 alternative criteria (CSTE-guided and RIDOH-modified CSTE) to replace one of RIDOH's original criteria. We gathered emergency medical services (EMS) records from 4 months in 2022 to determine whether they met any criteria, and we reviewed them to determine the accuracy of identifying an opioid overdose.

A Comparison of COVID-19 Associated Hospitalization Rates Among Unvaccinated Versus Vaccinated Residents in Rhode Island, September 2022 to March 2024.

While the burden of COVID-19 in Rhode Island has diminished since 2020, Rhode Islanders' health continues to be severely impacted. We compared COVID-19 hospitalization rates among Rhode Islanders who did and did not receive the latest COVID-19 vaccination for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 COVID-19 seasons (November through March). Crude and age-adjusted rate ratios were calculated for each season comparing hospitalization rates of unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals.

Buprenorphine prescribing and treatment accessibility in response to regulation changes due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Background: In 2021, over 80,000 fatal overdoses occurred in the United States. Since 2020, the federal government has enacted multiple regulatory changes around buprenorphine prescribing for opioid use disorder (OUD) to increase access to buprenorphine. This study aims to explore trends in buprenorphine treatment initiation pre- and post-public health emergency to evaluate changes in the context of X-waiver relaxations and telehealth allowances.

Differences in Substance Use and Harm Reduction Practices by Race and Ethnicity: Rhode Island Harm Reduction Surveillance System, 2021-2022.

Context: In the United States, minority populations are disproportionately affected by the overdose epidemic, have higher mortality rates, and unequal access to harm reduction and treatment services.

Objective: This analysis aims to better understand harm reduction utilization and substance use patterns among minority populations to improve overdose outreach and prevention initiatives in Rhode Island.

Design: The present analysis used data from the Harm Reduction Surveillance System from January 2021 to December 2022 (N = 393).