Healio (4/22, Gramigna) reports, “Community racial/ethnic composition appeared associated with residents’ access to specific medications for opioid use disorder [OUD],” investigators concluded in a “cross-sectional study.”
MD Magazine (4/22, Rosenfeld) reports researchers arrived at this conclusion after examining “the extent that racial and ethnic segregation played a role in who received methadone and buprenorphine.” Included in the study were “all counties and county-equivalent divisions in the US in 2016,” as well as “data on racial and ethnic population distribution from the American Community Survey.” The study revealed “an association between less interaction with African American residents and more methadone facilities,” while “every 1% decrease in the probability of an interaction of a white resident with an African American resident was linked with 8.17 more buprenorphine facilities and the probability of an interaction of a white and Hispanic resident was associated with 1.61 more facilities providing buprenorphine.” The findings were published online April 22 in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “Access to medications for opioid use disorder linked to community racial/ethnic segregation, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 22, 2020