TY  - JOUR
AU  - Karakis, Ioannis
AU  - Kostandini, Genti
AU  - Tsamakis, Konstantinos
AU  - Zahirovic-Herbert, Velma
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/6/26
TI  - The Association of Broadband Internet Use With Drug Overdose Mortality Rates in the United States: Cross-Sectional Analysis
JO  - Online J Public Health Inform
SP  - e52686
VL  - 16
KW  - opioids
KW  - broadband internet
KW  - mortality
KW  - public health
KW  - digital divide
KW  - access
KW  - availability
KW  - causal
KW  - association
KW  - correlation
KW  - overdose
KW  - drug abuse
KW  - addiction
KW  - substance abuse
KW  - demographic
KW  - United States
KW  - population
AB  - Background: The availability and use of broadband internet play an increasingly important role in health care and public health. Objective: This study examined the associations between broadband internet availability and use with drug overdose deaths in the United States. Methods: We linked 2019 county-level drug overdose death data in restricted-access multiple causes of death files from the National Vital Statistics System at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the 2019 county-level broadband internet rollout data from the Federal Communications Commission and the 2019 county-level broadband usage data available from Microsoft’s Airband Initiative. Cross-sectional analysis was performed with the fixed-effects regression method to assess the association of 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 use was linked with a 1.2% increase in overall drug overdose deaths. No significant association was observed for broadband internet availability. Although similar positive associations were found for both male and female populations, 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: Broadband internet use was positively associated with increased drug overdose deaths among the overall US population and some subpopulations, even after controlling for broadband availability, sociodemographic characteristics, unemployment, and median household income. 
SN  - 1947-2579
UR  - https://ojphi.jmir.org/2024/1/e52686
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/52686
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38922664
DO  - 10.2196/52686
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/52686
ER  -