Internet searches for opioids predict future emergency department heroin admissions

Opioid-related emergency department (ED) admissions and deaths have rapidly increased in the United States during the past decade (Rudd et al., 2016). In particular, heroin-related deaths have more than quintupled from 2000 to 2014, as some people have shifted from taking prescription opioids to heroin (Compton et al., 2016; Jones et al., 2015; Martins et al., 2017). For a number of fiscal and practical reasons, data on the status and evolution of heroin use have been of poor quality, which has hampered the ability to halt the epidemic (Humphreys, 2017; Kilmer and Caulkins, 2014; Ruhm, 2017).
Source: Drug and Alcohol Dependence - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: Short communication Source Type: research