Drug overdose deaths and economic factors: an empirical analysis of US counties, 2008-2018
by Suzan Odabaşı
International Journal of Economics and Business Research (IJEBR), Vol. 25, No. 3, 2023

Abstract: Drug abuse has grown to be a very serious public health and economic problem in the USA. Economies are greatly impacted by drug abuse because of the financial costs of prevention programs, treatments, and rehabilitations. This study investigates the impacts of county-level economic and social conditions on the drug overdose deaths in the USA. Using data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US Census Bureau, and the Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from 2008 to 2018, this study modelled associations between drug overdose deaths and socioeconomic and medical factors. Count data using Poisson regression is employed for four observation groups: females, males, individuals higher than 45 and, individuals under 45. The average county-level drug overdose deaths were relatively higher among males by nearly 25.6 deaths in 100,000 populations. The results show that drug overdose deaths significantly increase with higher uninsured population for each observation groups. In addition, among socio-economic factors, median household income and social participation are negatively related to drug overdose deaths in per 100,000 people.

Online publication date: Tue, 04-Apr-2023

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