Health & Healthcare: All Related Resources

The number of individuals incarcerated in the United States has increased since the 1970s. Frequent emergency department (ED) use and incarceration can both be driven by underlying structural factors and social needs. Researchers conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis to assess whether an increased frequency of ED use was associated with incarceration. They found that ED use is independently associated with incarceration.

This study from UCSF BHHI researchers examined deaths among people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found 82% of 331 deaths were associated with drug overdose, not COVID-19 infection. Traumatic injury, including homicide and suicide, was the second most common cause of death. This research highlights a need for strategies that address both homelessness and drug use, including housing, evidence-based treatment of opioid addiction, and overdose prevention programs.

Unstable housing has been associated with a higher risk of kidney disease and kidney disease progression. In this review, researchers discussed the underlying mechanisms of housing and kidney disease. Several considerations should be taken into account when working with individuals experiencing unstable housing or at risk for kidney disease. This review sheds light on that housing interventions can improve outcomes.

This UCSF study examined deaths among people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco from 2016 to 2018. Although heart disease and cancer are the first and second causes of death for California’s general population, the leading causes of homeless deaths were acute intoxication (unintended overdose) and trauma (including homicide and suicide rates over triple that of the US general population). The authors advocate that these differences in cause-specific mortality should inform death prevention efforts within the homeless population differently than the general population.