TAK - Fentanyl overdose deaths rose 279% oxycodone deaths fell in 5 years

2023-05-03 06:08:01 ET

The rate of drug overdose deaths involving fentanyl rose 279% between 2016 and 2021, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the CDC

According to the report from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the rate of overdose deaths related to fentanyl grew from 5.7 per 100,000 standard population in 2016 to 21.6 in 2021.

From 2016 through 2021, age-adjusted drug overdose death rates involving fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine grew, while drug overdose death rates involving oxycodone fell, the report added.

In 2021, among those aged 25–34, and 35–44, the drug overdose death rates were highest for fentanyl (40.8 and 43.5, respectively), followed by methamphetamine (15.4 and 20.3) and cocaine.

Among those aged 25–64, the highest rate of deaths involved fentanyl, the report added.

The death rates were highest among Alaska Native or American Indian (33.1  per 100K standard population) Black people (31.3) and White people (24.6) related to fentanyl.

There 71,238 deaths related to Synthetic Opioids (fentanyl) in 2021, according to a 2022 report by the CDC.

As per the NCHS study data published on May 3, rate of drug overdose deaths involving methamphetamine more than quadrupled, from 2.1 in 2016 to 9.6 in 2021.

The rate of drug overdose deaths related to cocaine more than doubled.

Meanwhile, overdose deaths involving heroin decreased by 40.8%, from 4.9 in 2016 to 2.9 in 2021, but the decrease was not statistically significant, the study noted.

The overdose deaths related to oxycodone fell 21.0%, from 1.9 in 2016 to 1.5 in 2021.

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