TABLE. Average yearly changes in rates of overdose deaths involving heroin and synthetic opioids excluding methadone, and law enforcement drug reports of heroin and fentanyl, by census region — United States, 2006–2015.
| Event, period | National |
U.S. Census region* |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast |
Midwest |
South |
West |
||
| Rate change (95% CI) | Rate change (95% CI) | Rate change (95% CI) | Rate change (95% CI) | Rate change (95% CI) | |
|
Total deaths involving heroin
| |||||
| 2006–2009 |
0.13 (0.01–0.26)† |
0.11 (-0.04–0.27) |
0.26 (0.00–0.53)† |
0.08 (-0.10–0.26) |
0.10 (0.02–0.18)† |
| 2010–2015 |
0.62 (0.55–0.68)†,§ |
1.02 (0.93–1.10)†,§ |
0.89 (0.74–1.03)†,§ |
0.49 (0.39–0.59)†,§ |
0.28 (0.24–0.33)†,§ |
|
Heroin drug reports
¶
| |||||
| 2006–2009 |
2.24 (0.51–3.96)† |
4.49 (-0.55–9.52) |
4.88 (1.46–8.30)† |
0.24 (-0.77–1.26) |
1.40 (-0.09–2.88) |
| 2010–2015 |
4.52 (3.60–5.44)†,§ |
8.51 (5.81–11.20)† |
6.00 (4.17–7.83)† |
2.74 (2.20–3.28)†,§ |
3.33 (2.53–4.12)†,§ |
|
Total deaths involving synthetic opioids
| |||||
| 2006–2012 |
0.01 (-0.05–0.06) |
0.02 (-0.08–0.12) |
-0.06 (-0.18–0.07) |
0.03 (-0.02–0.08) |
0.02 (-0.01–0.06) |
| 2013–2015 |
0.98 (0.78–1.18)†,§ |
2.15 (1.77–2.52)†,§ |
1.35 (0.88–1.81)†,§ |
0.81 (0.63–0.98)†,§ |
0.07 (-0.07–0.20) |
|
Fentanyl drug reports
¶
| |||||
| 2006–2012 |
-0.10 (-0.29–0.08) |
-0.20 (-0.64–0.24) |
-0.31 (-0.75–0.13) |
-0.002 (-0.053–0.049) |
0.017 (-0.002–0.037) |
| 2013–2015 |
2.09 (1.40–2.79)†,§ |
5.08 (3.42–6.75)†,§ |
3.64 (1.99–5.29)†,§ |
1.08 (0.89–1.27)†,§ |
0.11 (0.03–0.18)†,§ |
|
Deaths involving heroin without synthetic opioids
| |||||
| 2006–2012 |
0.17 (0.09–0.25)† |
0.26 (0.07–0.44)† |
0.33 (0.25–0.41)† |
0.08 (0.02–0.14)† |
0.10 (0.04–0.15)† |
| 2013–2015 |
0.33 (0.03–0.62)† |
0.31 (-0.37–0.99) |
0.23 (-0.07–0.53) |
0.43 (0.20–0.67)†,§ |
0.27 (0.05–0.49)† |
|
Deaths involving synthetic opioids without heroin
| |||||
| 2006–2012 |
0.01 (-0.03–0.05) |
0.02 (-0.05–0.08) |
-0.05 (-0.14–0.04) |
0.03 (-0.01–0.07) |
0.02 (-0.01–0.06) |
| 2013–2015 |
0.60 (0.45–0.75)†,§ |
1.31 (1.07–1.55)†,§ |
0.73 (0.38–1.07)†,§ |
0.54 (0.38–0.69)†,§ |
0.05 (-0.08–0.19) |
|
Deaths involving use of both heroin and synthetic opioids
| |||||
| 2006–2012 |
-0.001 (-0.021–0.020) |
0.001 (-0.037–0.039) |
-0.008 (-0.055–0.040) |
0.002 (-0.010–0.013) |
0.001 (-0.001–0.003) |
| 2013–2015 | 0.384 (0.307–0.460)†,§ | 0.842 (0.701–0.982)†,§ | 0.622 (0.444–0.800)†,§ | 0.269 (0.228–0.311)†,§ | 0.014 (0.005–0.023)†,§ |
Abbreviation: CI = confidence interval.
* Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
† Slope estimates are statistically significantly different from zero (p<0.05).
§ Slope for the later period is statistically significantly different from that of the earlier period (p<0.05).
¶ Drug exhibits (i.e., drug products) obtained by law enforcement that tested positive for heroin or fentanyl and were reported to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Forensic Laboratory Information System.