Economics and Opioid Mortality: Scientists Find a Clear Link

Studies show that opioid mortality is 85% higher in cities where car factories were closed. Writes about this Fox Business.

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Mortality from opioids among people aged 18 to 65 years increased significantly in the US counties where car factories were closed, compared to counties where car factories remained open from 1999 to 2016.

The study was published by the JAMA Medical Foundation.

“We were broadly interested in the correlation of data between economic opportunity and health,” said Dr. Atiendar Venkataramani, a professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania who led the study. “We are trying to understand whether decreased economic opportunity affects health. Although our study is specific to the auto industry, it serves as an example of what is happening more generally."

The largest increase in opioid overdose mortality was recorded among white men aged 18 to 34 years. In this demographic situation, 20 deaths per 000 people, and 20,1 deaths per 35 people for white men aged 65 to 12,8.

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According to the study, five years after the closure of the plant, the mortality rate from an overdose of opioids increased by 8,6 out of every 100, which is 000% higher than the death rate in districts where the plants did not close.

Venkataramani said his research began a few years ago.

“I was a primary care physician,” he said. “I have seen patients who just seemed confused and disinterested in life because they felt there was no other way for them.”

“It really demotivated people,” Venkataramani said, so he, as a physician who primarily wants to improve the health of his patients, began this study. While still in graduate school, he noticed a correlation between the closure of several auto plants in the United States and an increase in opioid deaths, which became the next ideal topic for research.

According to Venkataramani, it is particularly interesting that the link between job loss in the automotive industry in the United States and mortality from opioid overdose is a mutual interest of various people and news agencies.

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“As a physician, I am interested in helping my patients,” he said.

The increase in opioid use has gripped the United States at an alarming rate since the early 2000s.

About 66% of all drug overdoses include opioids: prescription painkillers, heroin, and fentanyl. The number of deaths associated with these drugs is almost six times higher than in 1999. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2019, more than 47 people died from an overdose of opioids in the United States.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 1979 million people were employed at car factories in the United States in 19, and by the end of the 1980s this number had fallen by seven percent. Since then, 7,5 million jobs have been lost in the United States. In particular, from 1980 to 2000, 2 million jobs were reduced, and from 2000 to 2017 — 5,5 million jobs.

“A lot of economic opportunities that were historically significant and available for a number of generations suddenly disappeared,” Venkataramani said in response to the recent steady decline in manufacturing jobs that has left tens of millions of Americans unemployed.

"Cutting production is turning into a void for workers - it doesn't look like there's anything that can come along and completely replace that void," he said.

The study examined 112 production districts located in 30 commuting zones, mainly in the southern and midwestern regions, where as of 1999 there was at least one operating automobile plant.

Twenty-nine counties had manufacturing plants closed, while 29 did not.

The study found that people in states such as Michigan and Wisconsin were hit hardest by closing factories.

Venkataramani added that individual communities solve these problems in different ways. For example, in Kentucky, where coal mining jobs have steadily declined over time, two local entrepreneurs have set up a software company called Bit Source, which aims to train former miners in programming.

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“Does loss of economic opportunity always lead to a worse opioid situation? I don’t think that’s the case,” Venkataramani said.

He believes that despite serious economic and professional changes in the United States, no one knows for sure whether artificial intelligence will take away American jobs and what the future of AI looks like.

“If we know that displacing people from work is potentially devastating to health and other social outcomes, is there a way to move toward AI that complements people rather than displacing them?” asked Venkataramani, adding that AI can make people more productive and safer at work.

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