{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,10]],"date-time":"2026-03-10T23:10:32Z","timestamp":1773184232380,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]],"date-time":"2024-07-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1722297600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pages\/standard-publication-reuse-rights"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic reportedly had a significant impact on drug and alcohol use. In this article, we determine positivity rates for urine drugs of abuse and blood alcohol in 5 emergency departments (ED) in the greater Boston metropolitan area over a 4-year period (pre-, during, and post-COVID-19 pandemic).<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Positivity rates for the urine drug screening (UDS) panel and blood alcohol concentration (&amp;gt;80 mg\/dL; over the legal limit in MA) were calculated in patients presenting to one of the 5 ED (2 academic hospitals in Boston, MA and 3 community hospitals outside Boston, MA) during each of the 4 different time periods: pre-COVID (January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019), stay-at-home (March 24, 2020 to May 18, 2020), during COVID (May 19, 2020 to March 28, 2021), and post-COVID (May 12, 2023 to August 31, 2023). Trend analysis was performed. Additionally, positivity rates during and post-COVID were compared to pre-COVID to determine any significant changes in drug positivity.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Stimulant (amphetamines and cocaine), cannabinoid, and methadone positivity increased during the pandemic and cocaine, cannabinoid, and methadone positivity remains elevated. By contrast, benzodiazepine and opioid (opiates, fentanyl, oxycodone) positivity decreased and remains lower post-COVID compared to pre-COVID. Patients in the ED with blood alcohol over the legal limit decreased both during and post-COVID.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Our study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected drug and alcohol positivity rates in patients presenting to the ED in greater Boston area. We encourage other institutions to perform similar analyses to help determine local drug use patterns and appropriate composition of UDS panels.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/jalm\/jfae076","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]],"date-time":"2024-07-30T18:20:42Z","timestamp":1722363642000},"page":"1064-1070","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Impact of COVID-19 on Drug Positivity Rates in the Emergency Departments in Boston and Surrounding Areas"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Nicole V","family":"Tolan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Phillip","family":"Kang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peter R","family":"Chai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Medical Toxicology, Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"The Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"The Fenway Institute , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Timothy B","family":"Erickson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine, Division of Medical Toxicology, Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Harvard Humanitarian Initiative , Cambridge, MA ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bryan D","family":"Hayes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5190-6652","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sacha N","family":"Uljon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christiana A","family":"Demetriou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University of Nicosia Medical School , Nicosia ,","place":["Cyprus"]},{"name":"The Cyprus School of Molecular Medicine, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics , Nicosia ,","place":["Cyprus"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stacy E F","family":"Melanson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]},{"name":"Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B1","author":"National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B2","author":"National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1674","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2020.17694","article-title":"Analysis of drug test results before and after the US declaration of a national emergency concerning the COVID-19 outbreak","volume":"324","author":"Wainwright","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"725","DOI":"10.15288\/jsad.2020.81.725","article-title":"Changes in alcohol consumption among college students due to COVID-19: effects of campus closure and residential change","volume":"81","author":"White","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Stud Alcohol Drugs"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B5","author":"R Core Team"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"605","DOI":"10.1080\/00952990.2021.1904967","article-title":"Drug and alcohol positivity of traumatically injured patients related to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders","volume":"47","author":"Young","year":"2021","journal-title":"Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1186\/s40621-021-00322-0","article-title":"Patterns of alcohol and drug utilization in trauma patients during the COVID-19 pandemic at six trauma centers","volume":"8","author":"McGraw","year":"2021","journal-title":"Inj Epidemiol"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"999","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jss.2022.11.059","article-title":"Drug and alcohol use in trauma patients before and during the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"283","author":"Zhai","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Surg Res"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B9","first-page":"17","article-title":"Substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic: what is really happening?","volume":"33","author":"Mellos","year":"2022","journal-title":"Psychiatriki"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6261","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph20136261","article-title":"Long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug\/alcohol use prevalence in a population with substance use disorders","volume":"20","author":"Gili","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int J Environ Res Public Health"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109499","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drugalcdep.2022.109499","article-title":"Use of laboratory data for illicit drug use surveillance and identification of socioeconomic risk factors","volume":"236","author":"Azimi","year":"2022","journal-title":"Drug Alcohol Depend"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103088","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drugpo.2020.103088","article-title":"Evidence of increased fentanyl use during the COVID-19 pandemic among opioid agonist treatment patients in Ontario, Canada","volume":"90","author":"Morin","year":"2021","journal-title":"Int J Drug Policy"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108908","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drugalcdep.2021.108908","article-title":"Seasonal and regional influences on alcohol consumption: an analysis of near-real-time urine drug test results in those seeking health care","volume":"227","author":"Olson","year":"2021","journal-title":"Drug Alcohol Depend"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B14","first-page":"694","article-title":"Effects of a pandemic and isolation on alcohol and psychoactive medication use in a population of rehabilitation and pain patients","volume":"51","author":"Pesce","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ann Clin Lab Sci"},{"key":"2024110323563107400_jfae076-B15","first-page":"100314","article-title":"Prescribed stimulant medications: trends in the last decade, pre and post COVID-19 response","volume":"11","author":"Kim","year":"2023","journal-title":"Explor Res Clin Soc Pharm"}],"container-title":["The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jalm\/article-pdf\/9\/6\/1064\/60305105\/jfae076.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jalm\/article-pdf\/9\/6\/1064\/60305105\/jfae076.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,3]],"date-time":"2024-11-03T23:56:40Z","timestamp":1730678200000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jalm\/article\/9\/6\/1064\/7723716"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]]},"references-count":15,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,4]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jalm\/jfae076","relation":{},"ISSN":["2475-7241"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2475-7241","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published-other":{"date-parts":[[2024,11]]},"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]]}}}