In 2016, 63,632 Americans died from drug overdoses, an increase of 21% over 2015, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths was 19.8 per 100,000 in 2016, up from 16.3 per 100,000 in 2015 and 6.1 in 1999, Holly Hedegaard, MD, and colleagues from the NCHS report in a data brief released December 21.
In 2016, drug overdose death rates were highest for individuals aged 25 to 34 years (34.6 deaths per 100,000), 35 to 44 years (35.0 deaths per 100,000), and 45 to 54 years (34.5 deaths per 100,000). The greatest percentage increase in drug overdose death rates from 2015 to 2016 occurred in adults aged 15 to 24 (28%), 25 to 34 (29%), and 35 to 44 (24%).
West Virginia had the highest drug overdose death rates in 2016 (52.0 per 100,000), followed by Ohio (39.1), New Hampshire (39.0), the District of Columbia (38.8), and Pennsylvania (37.9).
Increases in drug overdose deaths have largely been driven by the continued rise in deaths from synthetic opioids other than methadone (such as fentanyl, fentanyl analogues, and tramadol), with rates doubling in a single year from 3.1 per 100,000 in 2015 to 6.2 in 2016, the authors note.
Drug overdose deaths involving heroin increased from 4.1 in 2015 to 4.9 in 2016. Rates of overdose deaths involving natural and semisynthetic opioids (such as morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone) increased from 3.9 in 2015 to 4.4 in 2016.
Frightening Data Call for Immediate Action
“The escalating growth of opioid deaths is downright frightening ― and it’s getting worse,” commented John Auerbach, president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), in a news release. “Every community has been impacted by this crisis, and it’s getting lots of headlines, yet we’re not making the investments or taking the actions at anywhere near the level needed to turn the tide.”
Last month, as reported by Medscape Medical News, TFAH and Well Being Trust (WBT) released a report that projected that from 2016 to 2025, more than 1.6 million deaths would occur because of drugs, alcohol, and suicide. This would represent a 60% increase compared to the previous decade (2006 to 2015).
The report ― Pain in the Nation: The Drug, Alcohol and Suicide Epidemics and the Need for a National Resilience Strategy ― estimates that drug-related deaths could reach 163,000 per year by 2025 if the growth continues at current rates.
“These are not simply numbers ― these are actual lives. Seeing the loss of life at this dramatic rate calls for more immediate action,” said WBT Chief Policy Officer Benjamin F. Miller, PsyD. “Our fractured approach to a multisystemic issue isn’t enough, and it isn’t working. We collectively need to take a more comprehensive and systemic approach, beginning with prevention through recovery and treatment, to double down on investing in systems change for real results.” The Pain in the Nation report outlines such as strategy.
NCHS Data Brief 294. Published December 21, 2017. Full text
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