NCHS Data Brief No. 356, January 2020

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Holly Hedegaard, M.D., Arialdi M. Miniño, M.P.H., and Margaret Warner, Ph.D.

Key findings

Data from the National Vital Statistics System, Mortality

• In 2018, there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths in the United States, a 4.1% decline from 2017 (70,237 deaths).
• The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in 2018 (20.7 per 100,000) was 4.6% lower than in 2017 (21.7).
• For 14 states and the District of Columbia, the drug overdose death rate was lower in 2018 than in 2017.
• The rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (drugs such as fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and tramadol) increased by 10%, from 9.0 in 2017 to 9.9 in 2018.
• From 2012 through 2018, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine more than tripled (from 1.4 to 4.5) and the rate for deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential (drugs such as methamphetamine) increased nearly 5-fold (from 0.8 to 3.9).

Deaths from drug overdose continue to contribute to mortality in the United States (1–5). This report uses the most recent data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) to update trends in drug overdose deaths for all drugs and for specific drugs and drug types, and to identify changes in rates by state from 2017 to 2018.