The findings, in JAMA Internal Medicine, highlight fading economic opportunity as a driving factor in the ongoing national opioid epidemic, and build on previous research that links declining participation in the labor force to increased opioid use in the US, researchers say.

“Major economic events, such as plant closures, can affect a person’s view of how their life might be in the future. These changes can have a profound effect on a person’s mental well-being, and could consequently influence the risk of substance use,” says lead author Atheendar Venkataramani, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Our findings confirm the general intuition that declining economic opportunity may have played a significant role in driving the opioid crisis.”

The study examined the number of opioid-related deaths over a 17-year period (1999-2016) in 112 manufacturing counties near major automotive manufacturing plants. Using a variety of data sources, the researchers built a database of all automotive assembly plants in operation as of 1999, noting each plant’s location and date of closing, where applicable. They then identified counties located within commuting zones that contained one or more of the plants that closed.

Read the full article about assembly plants and opioid deaths by Katie Delach at Futurity.