Drug Overdose Deaths in the U.S. Continue to Rise

According to the most recent data brief from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, there were 63,632 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2016. Using data from the National Vital Statistics System, researchers found that the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths increased from 16.3 per 100,000 in 2015 to 19.9 per 100,000 in 2016. Additionally, the largest increases in drug overdose deaths from 2015 to 2016 occurred in adults aged 15 to 24 (28 percent), 25 to 34 (29 percent) and 35 to 44 (24 percent).

The District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia had the highest drug overdose death rates in 2016. Additionally, researchers note that “the pattern of drugs involved in drug overdose deaths has changed in recent years. The rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (drugs such as fentanyl, fentanyl analogs and tramadol) doubled in a single year from 3.1 per 100,000 in 2015 to 6.2 in 2016.”