Accepted for/Published in: Online Journal of Public Health Informatics
Date Submitted: Sep 12, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 12, 2023 - Nov 7, 2023
Date Accepted: May 23, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
The association of broadband internet usage with drug overdose mortality rates in the United States
ABSTRACT
Background:
Availability and utilization of broadband internet plays an increasingly important role in healthcare and public health.
Objective:
This study examined the associations between broadband internet availability and usage with drug overdose deaths in the United States.
Methods:
We linked 2019 county-level drug overdose death data from restricted-access multiple causes of death (MCOD) files from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) at the CDC with the 2019 county-level broadband internet rollout data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the 2019 county-level broadband usage data available from the Microsoft's Airband Initiative. The study applied cross-sectional analysis with the fixed-effects regression method to assess the association between broadband internet availability and usage with opioid overdose deaths. Our model also controlled for county-level socioeconomic characteristics and county-level health policy variables.
Results:
Overall, a 1% increase in broadband internet usage was linked with 1.2% increase in overall drug overdose deaths. No significant association was observed for broadband internet availability. While both women and men showed similar positive associations, the association varied across different age subgroups. The positive association on overall drug overdose deaths was the greatest among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White populations.
Conclusions:
The broadband internet usage was positively associated with increased drug overdose deaths among the overall U.S. population, and some subpopulations in the U.S., even after controlling for broadband availability, socio-demographic characteristics, unemployment, and median household income. Clinical Trial: n/a
Citation
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Copyright
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