Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37633426›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of preventive medicine2024

Fentanyl Concentration in Drug Checking Samples and Risk of Overdose Death in Vancouver, Canada.

Mary Clare Kennedy, Huiru Dong, Samuel Tobias, Jane A Buxton, Mark Lysyshyn, Kenneth W Tupper, Lianping Ti

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in American journal of preventive medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025
    Guideline
  2. Management of opioid use disorder: 2024 update to the national clinical practice guideline.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024
    Guideline
  3. Interpol review of forensic drug chemistry, 2022-2025.Forensic science international. Synergy · 2026
    Review
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  6. Fentanyl Purity and Overdose Decline: A Reexamination of Geographic Trends.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Mary Clare KennedySchool of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Social Development, The University of British Columbia - Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada; British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Electronic address: bccsu-mck@bccsu.ubc.ca.
Huiru DongBritish Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Samuel TobiasBritish Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Jane A BuxtonSchool of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Mark LysyshynVancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Kenneth W TupperSchool of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; School of Child and Youth Care, Faculty of Human and Social Development, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Lianping TiBritish Columbia Centre on Substance Use, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThe proliferation of fentanyl and its analogs in illegal, unregulated drug markets remains a major driver of the overdose crisis in North America. Drug checking services have been implemented as a harm reduction strategy to address the crisis. However, little is known about their potential utility as a mechanism for monitoring population-level risk of overdose stemming from changing fentanyl concentration in unregulated drugs over time. Therefore, this study assessed the relationship between median fentanyl concentration in expected opioid drug checking samples and the death rate due to illicit drug toxicity over time in Vancouver, Canada.

methodsMonthly population-based rates of death due to illicit drug toxicity were drawn from provincial coroner records. Monthly median percent fentanyl concentration was calculated using a validated quantification model from point-of-care Fourier-transform infrared spectra among expected opioid samples that tested positive for fentanyl at community drug checking services. A time-series analysis using generalized additive modeling was conducted to examine the association between monthly median fentanyl concentration and monthly death rate due to illicit drug toxicity, controlling for calendar month. Analyses were conducted in 2021-2022.

resultsBetween January 2019 and October 2020, 577 deaths due to illicit drug toxicity occurred in Vancouver, and the observed monthly rate ranged from 1.75 to 7.65 deaths per 100,000 population. A significant, positive association was observed between monthly median fentanyl concentration and monthly death rate due to illicit drug toxicity, adjusting for calendar month (chi-square=52.21, p<0.001).

conclusionsFindings suggest a role for point-of-care drug checking as a tool for monitoring evolving overdose risk at the population level.

Indexed as

Drug OverdoseDrug-Related Side Effects and Adverse ReactionsIllicit DrugsAnalgesics, OpioidCanadaFentanylHeroinHumansAnalgesics, OpioidFentanylHeroinIllicit Drugs

Identifiers

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.