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Table 1 Characteristics of 211 incidents in which police responded to people who overdosed, stratified by whether police administered naloxone in a city in Rhode Island from September 1, 2019, to August 31, 2020

From: Characteristics of events in which police responded to overdoses: an examination of incident reports in Rhode Island

Characteristic

Overall (N = 211)

Police did not administer naloxonea (n = 190)

Police administered naloxone (n = 21)

P value

Neighborhood of incident

Predominantly Latinx/Black

141 (67%)

129 (68%)

12 (57%)

0.13

Predominantly white

68 (32%)

60 (32%)

8 (38%)

ZIP code redacted

2 (1%)

1 (1%)

1 (5%)

Month of incident

Six months pre-COVID

123 (58%)

109 (57%)

14 (67%)

0.41

Six months during COVID

88 (42%)

81 (43%)

7 (33%)

Day of week

Sunday

29 (14%)

24 (13%)

5 (24%)

0.23

Monday

24 (11%)

20 (11%)

4 (19%)

Tuesday

36 (17%)

34 (18%)

2 (10%)

Wednesday

28 (13%)

27 (14%)

1 (5%)

Thursday

33 (16%)

30 (16%)

3 (14%)

Friday

30 (14%)

25 (13%)

5 (24%)

Saturday

31 (15%)

30 (16%)

1 (5%)

Time of day

Morning (5:00–11:59am)

23 (11%)

20 (11%)

3 (14%)

0.84

Afternoon (12:00–4:59 pm)

50 (24%)

45 (24%)

5 (24%)

Evening (5:00–8:59 pm)

63 (30%)

56 (29%)

7 (33%)

Night (9:00 pm-4:59am)

75 (36%)

69 (36%)

6 (29%)

Arrest made

Yes

3 (1%)

1 (1%)

2 (10%)

–

Property seized

Yes

15 (7%)

13 (7%)

2 (10%)

0.65

Drugs or paraphernalia seized

Yes

9 (4%)

8 (4%)

1 (5%)

 > 0.99

Number of peopleb

Median (IQR)

1 (1, 2)

1 (1, 2)

1 (1, 2)

0.88

Number of people who overdosed

One

202 (96%)

182 (96%)

20 (95%)

 > 0.99

Two or morec

9 (4%)

8 (4%)

1 (5%)

Rescue present before police arrival

Yes

124 (59%)

124 (65%)

0 (0%)

 < 0.01

No

59 (28%)

38 (20%)

21 (100%)

Unclear

28 (13%)

28 (15%)

0 (0%)

Naloxone administered by others

Yes

138 (65%)

133 (70%)

5 (24%)

 < 0.01

No

45 (21%)

31 (16%)

14 (67%)

Unclear

28 (13%)

26 (14%)

2 (10%)

Others who administered naloxone (n = 138)

Rescue

111 (80%)

106 (80%)

5 (100%)

 > 0.99

Bystander

17 (12%)

17 (13%)

0 (0%)

Rescue and bystander

10 (7%)

10 (78%)

0 (0%)

Timing of naloxone administration by non-police (n = 138)

Before police arrival

41 (30%)

41 (31%)

0 (0%)

0.48

While police present

85 (62%)

80 (60%)

5 (100%)

Both before police arrival and while police present

6 (4%)

6 (5%)

0 (0%)

Unclear

6 (4%)

6 (5%)

0 (0%)

Reference to fentanyl

Yes

24 (11%)

22 (12%)

2 (10%)

 > 0.99

Reference to suicide attempt

Yes

8 (4%)

8 (4%)

0 (0%)

 > 0.99

Transported to hospital

Yes

199 (94%)

178 (94%)

21 (100%)

 > 0.99

Nod

7 (3%)

7 (4%)

0 (0%)

Unclear

5 (2%)

5 (3%)

0 (0%)

Overdose was fatal

Yes

6 (3%)

6 (3%)

0 (0%)

 > 0.99

Incident setting

Private (e.g., someone’s home)

73 (35%)

67 (35%)

6 (29%)

 < 0.01

Public (e.g., store, outdoors)

53 (25%)

45 (24%)

8 (38%)

Vehicle

20 (10%)

13 (7%)

7 (33%)

Othere

8 (4%)

8 (4%)

0 (0%)

Unclear

57 (27%)

57 (30%)

0 (0%)

  1. aThere were two records for which details were insufficient to determine whether police administered naloxone; for analytic purposes, there records were categorized as “police did not administer naloxone.”
  2. bRefers to the number of persons from whom police collected information on scene. Information collected included name, address (where available), phone number, race, sex, and DOB/age
  3. cAmong records with two or more people who overdosed, 8 (89%) had two people who overdosed and 1 (11%) had three
  4. dThree records noted that the subject refused transport to a hospital
  5. eOther locations included homeless shelters, a college dorm room, and hotel rooms
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Harm Reduction Journal

ISSN: 1477-7517