Health Indicator Report of Drug Overdose and Poisoning Incidents
Drug poisoning deaths are a preventable public health problem; they are the leading cause of injury death in Utah, outpacing deaths due to firearms, falls, and motor vehicle crashes. Ten Utahns die each week from drug overdose. Utah is particularly affected by illicit opioids, specifically fentanyl, which is responsible for 33% of the unintentional and undetermined drug poisoning deaths in the state.
Poisoning: drug poisoning deaths by Utah Small Area, 2013-2022
Small areas with significantly higher drug overdose death rates include Salt Lake City (Downtown) V2, Carbon County, Ogden (Downtown), South Salt Lake, Emery County, Salt Lake City (Rose Park), Salt Lake City (Glendale) V2, Murray, West Valley (East) V2, Taylorsville (East)/Murray (West), Duchesne County, Salt Lake City (Sugar House), West Jordan (Northeast), and Midvale; while those with significantly lower drug overdose death rates include Saratoga Springs, Mapleton, North Logan, Eagle Mountain/Cedar Valley, Daybreak, Herriman, San Juan (Other), Park City, Syracuse, West Jordan (West)/Copperton, Smithfield, Salt Lake City (Foothill/East Bench), Washington County (Other) V2, Woods Cross/West Bountiful, Wasatch County, Provo/BYU, Farmington, Orem (East), North Salt Lake, Millcreek (East), Kaysville/Fruit Heights, Logan V2, Cache County (Other)/Rich County (All) V2, Draper, South Jordan V2, Lehi, Pleasant Grove/Lindon, Sandy (Southeast), Riverton/Bluffdale, Taylorsville (West), and Layton/South Weber.
Small areas with significantly higher drug overdose death rates include Salt Lake City (Downtown) V2, Carbon County, Ogden (Downtown), South Salt Lake, Emery County, Salt Lake City (Rose Park), Salt Lake City (Glendale) V2, Murray, West Valley (East) V2, Taylorsville (East)/Murray (West), Duchesne County, Salt Lake City (Sugar House), West Jordan (Northeast), and Midvale; while those with significantly lower drug overdose death rates include Saratoga Springs, Mapleton, North Logan, Eagle Mountain/Cedar Valley, Daybreak, Herriman, San Juan (Other), Park City, Syracuse, West Jordan (West)/Copperton, Smithfield, Salt Lake City (Foothill/East Bench), Washington County (Other) V2, Woods Cross/West Bountiful, Wasatch County, Provo/BYU, Farmington, Orem (East), North Salt Lake, Millcreek (East), Kaysville/Fruit Heights, Logan V2, Cache County (Other)/Rich County (All) V2, Draper, South Jordan V2, Lehi, Pleasant Grove/Lindon, Sandy (Southeast), Riverton/Bluffdale, Taylorsville (West), and Layton/South Weber.
Poisoning: drug poisoning deaths by Utah Small Area, 2013-2022
Notes
Data are age-adjusted (2000 U.S. standard population).*Use caution in interpreting, the estimate has a coefficient of variation >30%.
A description of the Utah Small Areas may be found on IBIS at the following URL: https://ibis.utah.gov/ibisph-view/resource/Guidelines.html.
The Consensus Recommendations for National and State Poisoning Surveillance definition of a drug is as follows: A drug is any chemical compound that is chiefly used by or administered to humans or animals as an aid in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease or injury, for the relief of pain or suffering, to control or improve any physiologic or pathologic condition, or for the feeling it causes.
Data Sources
- Utah Death Certificate Database, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, Utah Department of Health and Human Services
- Population estimates used linear interpolation of U.S. Census Bureau, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute population estimates, and ESRI ZIP Code data provided annual population estimates for ZIP Code areas by sex and age groups, IBIS Version 2022
Data Interpretation Issues
Poisoning incidents are classified according to ICD codes. ICD stands for the International Classification of Diseases. It is a coding system maintained by the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics used to classify causes of death, injury, and disease. These codes are updated approximately every ten years to account for advances in medical technology. The U.S. is currently using the 10th revision (ICD-10) to code causes of death.Poisoning deaths are defined by ICD-10 codes X40-X49 (unintentional); X60-X69 (suicide); X85-X90, *U01 (.6-.7) (homicide); Y10-Y19 (undetermined), and Y35.2 (other).
Drug poisoning deaths are a subset of poisoning deaths and are defined by ICD-10 codes X40-X44 (unintentional), X60-X64 (suicide), X85 (homicide), and Y10-Y14 (undetermined).
Prescription opioid deaths are identified using data from the Office of the Medical Examiner in the Utah Violent Death Reporting System.
Definition
Poisoning deaths: number of deaths among Utah residents with underlying cause of death being poisoning (ICD-10 codes X40-X49, X60-X69, X85-X90, Y10-Y19, Y35.2, *U01 [.6-.7]) per 100,000 population.Drug poisoning deaths: number of deaths among Utah residents resulting from drug poisoning (ICD-10 codes X40-X44, X60-X64, X85, Y10-Y14) per 100,000 population.
Prescription opioid deaths: number of unintentional and undetermined intent deaths among residents and non-residents resulting from prescription opioids that occurred in Utah.
Numerator
Poisoning deaths: number of deaths among Utah residents resulting from poisoning (ICD-10 codes X40-X49, X60-X69, X85-X90, Y10-Y19, Y35.2, *U01 [.6-.7]).Drug poisoning deaths: number of deaths among Utah residents resulting from drug poisoning (ICD-10 codes X40-X44, X60-X64, X85, Y10-Y14).
Prescription opioid deaths: number of resident and non-resident unintentional and undetermined prescription opioid deaths that occurred in Utah.
Denominator
Total number of persons in the population of Utah.Other Objectives
Healthy People 2030 Objective IVP-20: Prevent an increase in poisoning deaths among all persons- U.S. Target: 13.1 deaths per 100,000 population
- Utah Target: 12.9 deaths per 100,000 population
Healthy People 2020 Objective IVP-9.2: Prevent an increase in poisoning deaths among persons aged 35 to 54 years
- U.S. Target: 25.6 deaths per 100,000 population
- Utah Target: 23.2 deaths per 100,000 population
Healthy People 2020 Objective IVP-9.3: Prevent an increase in poisoning deaths caused by unintentional or undetermined intent among all persons
- U.S. Target: 11.1 deaths per 100,000 population
- Utah Target: 9.7 deaths per 100,000 population
Healthy People 2020 Objective IVP-9.4: Prevent an increase in poisoning deaths caused by unintentional or undetermined intent among persons aged 35 to 54 years
- U.S. Target: 21.6 deaths per 100,000 population
- Utah Target: 34.9 deaths per 100,000 population (prevent an increase in the 2010 crude rate)
Healthy People 2020 Objective IVP-10: Prevent an increase in nonfatal poisonings
- U.S. Target: 304.8 nonfatal poisonings per 100,000 population
- Utah Target: 291.5 nonfatal poisonings per 100,000 population
How Are We Doing?
The 2022 age-adjusted drug poisoning death rate was 19.5 per 100,000 population. During that year, 5.9% of Utah drug poisoning deaths were of undetermined intent, 14.5% were self-inflicted, and 79.4% were unintentional.From 2019 to 2022, males (23.9 per 100,000 population) had a significantly higher age-adjusted drug poisoning death rate compared to females (15.9 per 100,000 population). Males had the highest crude rates in the 35 to 44-year-old age group, while females had the highest crude rates in the 45-54-year-old age group. For ages 18-24, male drug poisoning death rates were significantly higher than female drug poisoning death rates (17.1 and 6.4 per 100,000 population, respectively).
How Do We Compare With the U.S.?
In 2021, the U.S. age-adjusted rate of drug poisoning deaths from all intents was 32.4 per 100,000 population. During this same year, the Utah age-adjusted rate of drug poisoning deaths was lower, with 21.0 deaths per 100,000 population.What Is Being Done?
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has received funding to address prescription drug abuse, misuse, and overdose deaths by continuing data collection efforts to help target interventions, develop provider materials, increase naloxone awareness, expand public awareness efforts, and develop provider tools and resources to address prescription drug abuse.To address the opioid epidemic in Utah, the Violence and Injury Prevention Program oversees academic detailing; leads opioid dashboard development; manages Stop the Opidemic, a campaign that works to raise awareness on opioid abuse and misuse while reducing stigma; organizes naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and xylazine test strips dissemination and tracks overdose reversals; and provides funding to local health departments, 2-1-1, and other community partners who work alongside the DHHS in the opioid epidemic.
Evidence-based Practices
Here are some relevant programs using evidence-based practices.Strengthening Families Program
Evidence-based family skills training program
http://strengtheningfamiliesprogram.org
HALO: Healthy Alternatives for Little Ones
Health education and prevention program for children aged 3-6 years
https://theathenaforum.org/sites/default/files/healthy_alternatives_for_little_ones_4-21-12.pdf
Programs of Prevention, PRIME for Life
Alcohol and drug prevention program for all ages
http://www.primeforlife.org
Available Services
Know Your Script Media Campaignhttp://www.knowyourscript.org
The University of Utah: Utah Poison Control Center
http://poisoncontrol.utah.edu
National Institutes of Health: National Institute on Drug Abuse
http://drugabuse.gov
Utah Office of Substance Use and Mental Health (SUMH)
https://sumh.utah.gov/
Partnership to End Addiction
http://www.drugfree.org
Office of National Drug Control Policy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp
Utah Department of Health and Human Services: Stop the Opidemic
http://opidemic.utah.gov
Health Program Information
The Violence and Injury Prevention Program (VIPP) is a trusted and comprehensive resource for data related to violence and injury. Through education, this information helps promote partnerships and programs to prevent injuries and improve public health. The VIPP goals are to a) focus prevention efforts on reducing intentional and unintentional injury, b) conduct education aimed at increasing awareness and changing behaviors that contribute to the occurrence of injury, c) strengthen local health department capacity to conduct local injury prevention programs, d) promote legislation, policy changes, and enforcement that will reduce injury hazards and increase safe behaviors, e) collaborate with private and public partners, and f) improve the Department of Health and Human Services' capacity to collect mortality and morbidity data from multiple sources and conduct injury epidemiology for use in prevention planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Page Content Updated On 03/28/2024,
Published on 03/28/2024