Identifying Occupational Patterns in Opioid-Involved Overdose Mortality to Inform Local Opioid Response –– Utah, 2012–2016

We looked at opioid-involved overdose deaths among Utah residents and found that workers in certain occupations and industries have a higher burden of drug overdose deaths involving opioids. The occupations and industries with the highest burden differed for men and women. Men working in construction and women working in hospitals faced the highest burdens.
What a person does for work has a significant influence on their physical and psychological well-being.
This study is a first step for Utah towards understanding how work may impact the opioid overdose epidemic and provides the groundwork for future research, in Utah and nationally, to evaluate the role of work in this crisis. Additional research is warranted to illustrate how workplace interventions may help in addressing this public health emergency.

Quote from the Disease Detective

“This study helps broaden our understanding of how our jobs can and do have an effect on our health and well-being at work and beyond, including the potential for increased risk of drug overdose deaths involving opioids. The study also highlighted the possibility that job-related factors associated with increased risk of opioid-involved overdose death may be different for men and women. We hope to expand on this work to learn more about how work may be influencing this risk, why it may be different for men and women, and how this information might be used to help workers and employers.”

– Laurel Harduar Morano, PhD, MPH, EIS Class of 2017

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Laurel Harduar Morano, PhD, MPH, EIS class of 2017