Danielle N. Atkins

Area of research

Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health · Epidemiology

Research interest

Research topics from publications: Buprenorphine involvement in opioid overdose deaths: A retrospective analysis of postmortem toxicology in Marion County, Indiana, 2015-2021; Disparities in the accuracy of reporting opioid overdoses to 9-1-1 by race and sex of overdose victim, Marion County, Indiana, 2011–2020; Estimating the incidence of substance exposed newborns with child welfare system involvement; Beliefs of US chiefs of police about substance use disorder, fentanyl exposure, overdose response, and use of discretion: results from a national survey; Operationalizing person-centered care in residential substance use disorder treatment; Key person-centered care domains for residential substance use disorder treatment facilities: former clients’ perspectives; Factors affecting problem-solving court team decisions about medications for opioid use disorder; Factors associated with counselling adherence in opioid treatment programs. Representative work: Background: Amidst an unprecedented overdose epidemic, the opioid partial agonist buprenorphine is a medication for opioid use disorder associated with reductions in overdose. Despite its efficacy, buprenorphine prescribing remains closely regulated, owing to concerns about misuse, and its possible role in overdoses. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the Marion County, Indiana coroner's postmortem toxicology data for unintentional opioid-involved overdose deaths from 2015 through 2021. The county was chosen as a novel setting whose corner provided comprehensive overdose data. It contains Indianapolis, a large city in the US Midwest The 2,369 opioid-involved overdoses were analyzed for the OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of emergency medical incidents wherein naloxone was administered but overdose was not described as the chief complaint during the 9-1-1 call, including differences by overdose victim race/ethnicity and sex. METHODS: We computed the percentage of 9-1-1 calls in Marion County, Indiana, from 2011 to 2020, wherein naloxone was administered but the caller did not describe overdose as the chief complaint. We estimated a logistic regression to examine the associations between reporting of overdose as the chief complaint and race and sex of the overdose victim. RESULTS: Almost one-fifth of 9-1-1 calls preceding naloxone administration did not describe overdose as