Association of Public Works Disasters with Substance Use Difficulties

Evidence from Flint, Michigan, Five Years after the Water Crisis Onset

Bibliographic Data

ID15515103
AuthorsTuviere Onookome-Okome (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Angel Hsu (0000-0003-4913-9479, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Dean G Kilpatrick (0000-0002-4722-1084, Medical University of South Carolina), Angela D Moreland (0000-0002-6055-4895, Medical University of South Carolina), Angela Moreland (Medical University of South Carolina), Aaron Reuben (0000-0001-5713-4913, Medical University of South Carolina, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume20
Issue23
Pages7090-7090
Publication date2023-11-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/ijerph20237090
PMID38063520
OpenAlexW4388849125
LanguageEN
References cited30

Public works environmental disasters such as the Flint water crisis typically occur in disenfranchised communities with municipal disinvestment and co-occurring risks for poor mental health (poverty, social disconnection). We evaluated the long-term interplay of the crisis and these factors with substance use difficulties five years after the crisis onset. A household probability sample of 1970 adults living in Flint during the crisis was surveyed about their crisis experiences, use of substances since the crisis, and risk/resilience factors, including prior potentially traumatic event exposure and current social support. Analyses were weighted to produce population-representative estimates. Of the survey respondents, 17.0% reported that substance use since the crisis contributed to problems with their home, work, or social lives, including 11.2% who used despite a doctor's warnings that it would harm their health, 12.3% who used while working or going to school, and 10.7% who experienced blackouts after heavy use. A total of 61.6% of respondents reported using alcohol since the crisis, 32.4% using cannabis, and 5.2% using heroin, methamphetamine, or non-prescribed prescription opioids. Respondents who believed that exposure to contaminated water harmed their physical health were more likely to use substances to the detriment of their daily lives (RR = 1.32, 95%CI: 1.03-1.70), as were respondents with prior potentially traumatic exposure (RR = 2.99, 95%CI: 1.90-4.71), low social support (RR = 1.94, 95%CI: 1.41-2.66), and PTSD and depression (RR's of 1.78 and 1.49, respectively, p -values < 0.01). Public works disasters occurring in disenfranchised communities may have complex, long-term associations with substance use difficulties

Cannabis · Environmental health · Mental health · Political science · Population · Poverty · Psychiatry · Public health · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Demography · Disaster Management and Resilience · Homelessness and Social Issues · Medicine

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access