Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Automotive plant closures may be linked with a rise in opioid overdose deaths, new study says
(CNN) An automotive assembly plant closing in a US county has been associated with 85% higher opioid overdose death rates among working-age adults in that county after five years, according to a study published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday.
"Relative to the trends in manufacturing counties where an automotive plant did not close, having a plant closure meant that your opioid overdose death rate was 85% higher after five years than it otherwise would have been -- and that was a large number to us," said Dr. Atheendar Venkataramani, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, who was first author of the study.
"The study is important because it shows that when economic opportunities collapse, it not only has consequences for people's economic wellbeing but it might adversely affect their health too," Venkataramani said. "Economic opportunity matters for our health, and as the forces that are shifting economic opportunities for people are continuing to evolve, we have to think about how policies can both make people resilient -- from a health sense -- to the negative changes that might happen, and we also have to think about what types of policies on the economic side may actually give people opportunities, which may also bolster their health."
...
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/30/health/opioid-overdose-deaths-automotive-plant-closures-study/index.html
"Relative to the trends in manufacturing counties where an automotive plant did not close, having a plant closure meant that your opioid overdose death rate was 85% higher after five years than it otherwise would have been -- and that was a large number to us," said Dr. Atheendar Venkataramani, assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, who was first author of the study.
"The study is important because it shows that when economic opportunities collapse, it not only has consequences for people's economic wellbeing but it might adversely affect their health too," Venkataramani said. "Economic opportunity matters for our health, and as the forces that are shifting economic opportunities for people are continuing to evolve, we have to think about how policies can both make people resilient -- from a health sense -- to the negative changes that might happen, and we also have to think about what types of policies on the economic side may actually give people opportunities, which may also bolster their health."
...
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/30/health/opioid-overdose-deaths-automotive-plant-closures-study/index.html