Soaring Overdose Rates in the Pandemic Reflected Widening Racial Disparities

The pandemic’s devastating impact on drug overdose deaths in the United States hit people of color hardest, with rates rising most rapidly among young black people, according to a federal report that was released Tuesday and in which the overdose data were analyzed by race, age, and age. revenue.

Overall, overdose deaths increased 30 percent from 2019 to 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report said. Black deaths rose 44 percent, with white people (22 percent) or Hispanic people (21 percent) almost double the number of deaths. Deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives increased by 39 percent.

Measured as a share of the population, in 2020, black people died more than any other racial or ethnic group – 39 per 100,000, 31 for white people, American Indian and Alaska Native compared to 36 and 21 for Hispanics. ,

“The increase in overdose mortality rates among blacks and American Indian and Alaska Native people may be partly due to health inequalities, such as substance use treatment and treatment,” said CDC Acting Chief Deputy Director Dr. Debra Horry. Unequal access to treatment biases.”

The racial breakouts were based on data from Washington, DC and 25 states that had completed the analysis. The study included data from some states where overdose death rates increased, such as Georgia, Kentucky and Maine, but not from others with higher rates, such as Florida, New York and Michigan. The CDC researchers said that, nonetheless, the trends they saw in this data reflect statistically racial breakouts across the country.

Nationwide, overdose deaths have continued to rise since 2020, although the rate has slowed somewhat.

The effect on different castes became even more striking with age in mind. In 2020, the death rate for black men was nearly seven times higher than for white men among men 65 years of age and older. Among black people aged 15 to 24, overdose death rates rose 86 percent from 2019 to 2020.

The study authors said the deaths were largely driven by illegally produced fentanyl, some triggered by the combination of opioids with other drugs, such as methamphetamine and cocaine.

The authors said the pandemic exacerbated the spiral. With people young and old missing out on social services, peers, family, and treatment centers, drugs became a distraction and a consolation, to say nothing of a drop in income for many.

The results showed the racial divide in stark relief with regard to access to substance abuse treatment. Although the data showed that treatment was rare among those who died, the share of people receiving treatment for substance abuse was the smallest among black people (8.3 percent), or nearly half of white people who sought treatment. And later he died.

Income inequality has also deepened that gap, the report said.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report noted that overdose death rates were generally higher in counties with more treatment services and mental health care providers. Again, the effect varies by race. For example, among American Indian and Alaska Native people and black people, the rate in 2020 in counties with at least one opioid treatment program was more than twice as high as in counties lacking such services.

In counties with comparatively more treatment options than others, overdose mortality increased by 49 percent from 2019 to 2020, compared with 19 percent among white people.

“Just because services are available doesn’t mean those services are actually accessible,” said Mbaazi Karissa, the report’s lead author and a health scientist with the Overdose Prevention Division at the CDC, adding that limited transportation and insurance options can be problematic. Huh. In addition, she said, fear of being stigmatized and widespread mistrust of the health care system may also be important factors.

The report also noted that in geographically large countries, a treatment center may be located in a densely populated center, which would make access challenging in remote areas. But it is difficult to pinpoint a causal relationship between clinic attendance and mortality: counties with higher rates of drug abuse and overdose deaths may be more likely to have a clinic.