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Abstract
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Introduction
In the United States, 91,799 drug overdose deaths occurred in 2020, a 30% increase from 2019, and provisional estimates suggest continued increases in 2021.1,2 Recent increases in drug overdose deaths have been largely driven by illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF),3,4,5 but deaths involving stimulants, such as cocaine and methamphetamine, are also on the rise.3,4,6 This report uses data from the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS), which complements information available from other systems, to describe the drugs involved in and circumstances surrounding drug overdose deaths of unintentional or undetermined intent to help inform overdose prevention and response efforts.
Data Source and Methods
CDC funds 47 states and the District of Columbia to abstract information from death certificates and medical examiner and coroner reports, including toxicology results, on drug overdose deaths of unintentional or undetermined intent through SUDORS. Detailed information is abstracted and entered into a web-based system to describe decedent demographics, circumstances that preceded the fatal overdose (e.g., prior history of overdose, recent release from an institutional setting), circumstances occurring during or immediately preceding the overdose (e.g., presence of potential bystanders), as well as some limited medical history (e.g., mental health diagnoses, treatment for substance use disorder), and response to the overdose (e.g., naloxone administration). In addition, SUDORS contains information on drugs detected during post-mortem toxicology testing as well as those determined by a medical examiner or coroner to have caused death.
This report includes data from 28 states and the District of Columbia that collected information on all drug overdose deaths of unintentional and undetermined intent that occurred during January to December 2020 and had medical examiner/coroner reports for at least 75% of deaths.
Results
In 2020, 38,048 drug overdose deaths occurred in 28 states and DC for an age-adjusted rate of 30.6 per 100,000 population ...
In 2020, drug overdose death rates varied by sex, age, and race and ethnicity ...
In 2020, overdose death rates involving opioids with and without stimulants and stimulants without opioids varied by age ...
In 2020, overdose death rates involving opioids with and without stimulants and stimulants without opioids varied by race and ethnicity ...
n 2020, the five most frequently occurring opioid and stimulant combinationsc accounted for 59.6% of overdose deaths ...
In 2020, 70.0% of all drug overdose deaths involved illicitly manufactured fentanyls.
In 2020, persons who died of a drug overdose had documented evidence of the following select circumstances ...
n 2020, most circumstances were similar across drug categories; however, some differences were noted for deaths involving stimulants without opioids ... |