Factors associated with help seeking by community responders trained in overdose prevention and naloxone administration in Massachusetts

Background: Community overdose responders do not always seek help from emergency services when administering naloxone. We aimed to identify responder, overdose event, and community characteristics associated with help seeking from emergency services during overdoses reported by Massachusetts Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) enrollees, and to assess trends in help seeking over time.

Methods: We analyzed overdose reports submitted between 2007 and 2017 to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. We used logistic regression, stratified by responder drug use status, to assess associations of characteristics with help seeking during an overdose.

Results: From January 2007 through December 2017, there were 69,870 OEND enrollees. 5,588 enrollees reported 10,246 overdoses. Help seeking was more likely among responders who did not use drugs. Among responders who did not use drugs, help seeking was more likely when: the responder was older or female, the victim was a stranger or client, and when naloxone did not work. Among responders who used drugs, help seeking was more likely when: the responder was female or had not previously reported responding to an overdose, the victim was a stranger or client or did not use fentanyl, naloxone took a longer time to work, and when the overdose was public or occurred more recently. The percentage of overdoses where help seeking occurred reached a maximum in 2016 at 50%.

Conclusions: Help seeking by OEND enrollees was significantly associated with several responder, victim, and event characteristics. Targeted interventions to promote help seeking are warranted, particularly as the lethality of opioid supplies rises.