Fatal drug overdoses more than doubled since 1999, CDC finds
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CDC researchers examined data from the National Vital Statics System to
see the effects of drug trends across the nation from 1999 to 2015.
Rates of fatal drug overdoses have dramatically increased since 1999,
rising from 6.1 deaths per 100,000 people to 16.3 deaths per 100,000 in
2015, according to the CDC report.
That number is higher than the rate of death for suicides in the U.S.,
13.4 deaths per 100,000, or the rate of death from car accidents, 11.1
deaths per 100,000 residents.
The overall number of deaths due to opioid overdoses quadrupled during
the same time period, according to figures previously published by the
CDC. Opioids killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, more than any year
on record, according to the CDC, which estimates that 91 Americans die
every day from an opioid overdose.
Some 5000,000 Americans died from 2000 to 2015 as a result of the opioid epidemic, the CDC says.
People in all age groups were more at risk for dying from drug overdoses
but those between their mid-40s and their 60s were hardest hit,
according to the new report.
And despite persistent concerns over teens and young adults abusing
drugs, middle-aged adults were the most likely to suffer a fatal
overdose, according to the report.
People between the ages of 54 to 65 saw the biggest percent increase in
fatal drug overdoses during the study period, rising nearly five-fold
from 4.2 deaths per 100,000 to 21.8 deaths in 2015.
Americans between the ages of 45 to 54 had the highest rate of fatal
drug overdoses overall in 2015, with 30 deaths reported per 100,000.
Dr. Caleb Alexander, a co-director for the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug
Safety and Effectiveness, said the report shows overdose deaths related
to opioids are increasing at an "incredible rate"
"Each year I think it's hard to imagine it getting much worse and yet
last year we had the highest number of deaths on record," Alexander
said.
Alexander pointed out that the data highlighted how many people the drugs have impacted from across various age groups.
"Sometimes there's this perception that this is a problem of only
teenagers or young adults and nothing could be further from the truth,"
Alexander said. "Middle aged and elderly adults are also being affected
by the epidemic."
The deadly spread of illicit opioids were also reflected in the numbers.
The percentage of fatal overdoses related to heroin more than tripled
from 8 percent in 2010 to 25 percent in 2015. Synthetic opioids also
took a heavy toll accounting for 18 percent of fatal overdose deaths in
2015 up from 8 percent in 2010.
But the increase was not all due to opioids, the percent of drug deaths
from cocaine increased slightly to 13 percent in 2015 compared to 11
percent in 2010.
The percentage of overdose deaths due to natural and semisynthetic
opioids -- which includes prescription heroin drugs oxycodone and
hydrocodone -- decreased from 29 percent in 2010 to 24 percent in 2015.
In 2015 the states hardest hit by fatal drug overdoses were West
Virginia with 41.5 deaths per 100,000 people, New Hampshire (34.3),
Kentucky (29.9) and Ohio (29.9.)
Dr. Corey Slovis, chairman of department of emergency medicine at
Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of the
National Fire Department and National Airport, said the current drug
epidemic is "the worst that I've ever seen it."
With opioid use increasing, Slovis said emergency services has had a hard time responding to all the overdose calls.
"It's that it's not just heroin anymore between the fentanyl [and] of
the synthetic variants including carfentanil" an elephant tranquilizer,
said Slovis.
Slovis said some illicit synthetic opioids can be 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin.
Fentanyl and Carfentanil, which was designed to be an elephant
tranquilizer, has led in some instances to EMS personnel running out of
the opioid antidote Narcan
while treating a single patient, he said. Rather than use one or two
doses they're using 10 doses to try and save a patient's life.
"When you use an elephant tranquilizer on a human, bad things are going
to happen," Slovis said, explaining EMS personnel had to double the
amount of Narcan they bring with them in the field.
Shelly Prasad Chawla contributed to this article. She is a resident physician of Internal Medicine in Chicago and a resident in the ABC News Medical Unit.
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