Citation

Rodrigue J, Khuu D, Kim T, Tsai G, Health Outcomes and Data Analytics Branch, Substance Abuse Prevention and Control, Los Angeles Count. Health Outcomes and Data Analytics Branch. Los Angeles, CA: Health Outcomes and Data Analytics Branch, Substance Abuse Prevention and Control, Los Angeles Count, 2022.

Copyright

(Copyright 2022, Health Outcomes and Data Analytics Branch)

The full document is available online.

Abstract

In 2021, methamphetamine and fentanyl were the most common drug types listed as a cause of death in accidental drug overdose deaths in Los Angeles County (LAC), accounting for 56% and 55%, respectively, of all alcohol and other drug overdose deaths. While methamphetamine is a significant contributor to accidental drug overdoses, there are also unique risks associated with one-time fentanyl exposure and interventions such as naloxone are available to address fentanyl overdoses that do not exist for methamphetamine. This explains the unique focus on and need to understand the fentanyl crisis amid broader drug overdose concerns to inform activities to reduce the impact of fentanyl overdoses in our communities. This data report presents the number and rate of fentanyl overdose deaths, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalizations by sociodemographic and geographic groups from 2016, when routine testing for fentanyl began among overdose deaths. Accidental fentanyl overdose deaths increased 1,280% from 109 in 2016 to 1,504 in 2021. From 2016 to 2020, fentanyl overdose ED visits increased 308% from 133 to 542, and fentanyl overdose hospitalizations increased 98% from 102 to 202 cases. Adults aged 26-39 years had the highest rates of fentanyl overdose deaths (30.0) and ED visits (13.1) per 100,000 population, while young adults aged 18-25 years had the highest hospitalization rate (4.5) in the most recent available data year. Males accounted for more fentanyl overdose deaths and had a rate per 100,000 population that was 3.9 times that of females (23.4 vs. 6.0) in 2021. Males also accounted for more fentanyl overdose ED visits and hospitalizations and had rates per 100,000 population that were 3.3 and 2.3 times, respectively, of those for females (ED visits: 8.2 vs. 2.5; hospitalizations: 2.8 vs. 1.2) in 2020. White residents accounted for the largest number of fentanyl overdose deaths, ED visits, and hospitalizations, followed by Latinx, Black, and Asian residents. However, after adjusting for size differences in population, Black residents had the highest rates per 100,000 population for fentanyl overdose deaths (30.6) and hospitalizations (3.2), and the second highest rate of ED visits (6.7) as compared to White residents (deaths: 22.5, ED visits: 8.6, and hospitalizations: 2.7), and Latinx residents (deaths: 11.1, ED visits: 3.4, and hospitalizations: 1.3), and Asian residents (deaths: 2.0, ED visits: 0.6, and hospitalizations: 0.3) in the most recent data year. Similarly, more affluent areas had higher numbers of fentanyl overdose deaths than less affluent areas, with nearly half (48%) of fentanyl overdose deaths occurring in the most affluent areas and 8% occurring in the least affluent areas in 2016-2021. However, the rate of fentanyl overdose deaths per 100,000 population in the least affluent areas were more than triple than those of the most affluent areas (38.4 vs. 12.3) of LAC in 2021.