Table 3.
Age-adjusted drug overdose death rate per 100 000 standard population, number, and percentage of drug overdose deaths among Kentucky residents, by drug involved and race and ethnicity, 2016 and 2020 a
| Involved drug | Non-Hispanic Black | Non-Hispanic White | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 (n = 78) | 2020 (n = 172) | 2016 (n = 1286) | 2020 (n = 1759) | |||||
| Rate | No. (%) | Rate | No. (%) | Rate | No. (%) | Rate | No. (%) | |
| Opioids | 17.2 | 64 (82.1) | 38.1 | 143 (83.1) | 29.7 | 1074 (83.5) | 41.5 | 1484 (84.4) |
| Heroin | 6.7 | 24 (30.8) | 3.6 | 14 (8.1) | 9.1 | 320 (24.9) | 2.7 | 97 (5.5) |
| Fentanyl and fentanyl analogs | 9.5 | 36 (46.2) | 34.5 | 130 (75.6) | 12.4 | 430 (33.4) | 35.1 | 1234 (70.2) |
| Cocaine | 8.6 | 31 (39.7) | 14.1 | 51 (29.7) | 4.1 | 146 (11.4) | 3.2 | 116 (6.6) |
| Psychostimulants (other than cocaine) | — | 8 (10.3) | 13.0 | 49 (28.5) | 6.5 | 232 (18.0) | 19.3 | 676 (38.4) |
| Opioids and cocaine | 5.2 | 19 (24.4) | 9.6 | 34 (19.8) | 3.3 | 117 (9.1) | 2.9 | 106 (6.0) |
| Opioids and psychostimulants (other than cocaine) | — | 6 (7.7) | 9.7 | 37 (21.5) | 4.8 | 168 (13.1) | 14.9 | 510 (29.0) |
Abbreviation: —, rates based on ≤10 events were not calculated.
a
Data source: Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics death certificate records and postmortem toxicology results from the Kentucky Medical Examiners’ Office, as part of the Kentucky Drug Overdose Fatality Surveillance System. 18 Because of small counts, we did not report annual rates for the Hispanic and non-Hispanic Other groups.