A Canadian’s socioeconomic status could make them more prone to opioid-related emergency room visits, hospitalizations and death. A new study from the University of Waterloo found that between 2000 and 2017, low-income Canadians were almost four times more likely to die from opioid-related causes than high-income Canadians. This is the first research to demonstrate this link nationally, and it does so with data spanning nearly two decades. According to the study, the findings come at a critical time in Canada. On the same day the report was released, the largest settlement of a government health claim was reached with opioid maker Purdue Pharma Canada to recover health care costs related to sales of opioid painkillers. “Opioid-related harm is at a crisis level in Canada,” Wasem Alsabbagh, a professor at Waterloo and lead author of the study, said in a news release. Opioid-related hospitalizations increased more than 50% between 2007 and 2017, the study says. More recent numbers from Statistics Canada show that number remains high. In 2021, there were approximately 17 hospitalizations per day due to opioid-related poisoning. For comparison, in 2017 there were 14 hospitalizations per day. Additionally, 88 percent of hospitalizations in 2021 occurred in British Columbia, Alberta or Ontario. To demonstrate that lower-income areas continue to bear the brunt of opioid-related harm in Canada, the researchers pulled information from Statistics Canada and tracked zip codes associated with reported opioid-related incidents. While the gap between rich and poor Canadians has narrowed since 2000, it remained high in 2017, with low-income Canadians 2.5 times more likely to die from opioid use. “Often, we see low socioeconomic status in concentrated geographic areas where there is poorer access to resources,” Alsabbagh said. “In addition, psychosocial factors, such as feeling marginalized or enduring discrimination and social isolation, can have an effect.” To bridge the gap, the study recommends that policymakers of targeted health policies consider the psychosocial aspects of socioeconomic status. For example, implementing opioid stewardship and ensuring the creation of new policies with an emphasis on justice. “By charting the connection between low socioeconomic status and opioid harm, we can design policies that better serve the needs of our communities,” said Alsabbagh.
