HHS article published about correlation between wastewater and recovery

Marin County, California, USA, March 2023 – June 2024

by Haylea Hannah, PhD

Thrilled to share our publication on correlations between wastewater levels of SUD treatment medications and naloxone with treatment outcomes and overdoses (co-authors – Lee Ann Prebil, Catherine Condon, Jeffrey DeVido, Fay Zenoff, Kaitlyn Hess Jimenez, and Matthew Willis): https://lnkd.in/g9Z2WKv7

We found weak correlations for naloxone and buprenorphine with treatment and overdose outcomes. Higher naloxone wastewater levels were weakly associated with fewer overdose deaths two weeks later. Buprenorphine levels were positively associated with OUD treatment clients one week later, and negatively correlated with EMS encounters for opioid overdose two weeks later. Weekly wastewater concentrations of naloxone and MOUDs also significantly increased over time in Marin County, California.

Gratitude to the many folks who have been leaders in assessing the utility of wastewater for overdose prevention: Sophie Zhu, PhD, Zerleen Quader, Souci Louis, VMD, MPH, Priyanka Thatipamala, Kathy Koblick, Alex Buben, among many others past and present!