Increasing overdose deaths in the United States is an issue that greatly concerns healthcare authorities and bioethicists. Are prevention campaigns proving effective? Could healthcare regulations be improved? Can doctors do better in the prescription of these drugs? What is the prognosis of this epidemic? These questions remain unanswered.
In this respect, last July we commented on an article published in The New York Times entitled, “In Shadow of Pandemic, U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths Resurge to Record.” Our article mainly addressed the evolution of the opioid epidemic. But it is known the great incidence of the use of cocaine in the country.
Evolution of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine
The Summary of this month’s NCHS Data Brief says, “This report updates statistics on deaths from drug overdoses involving cocaine in the United States, including information on trends from 2009 through 2018 (read HERE). After remaining stable from 2009 through 2013, rates of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine increased on average by about 27% per year from 2013 through 2018. The rate of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine in 2018 was more than triple the rate in 2009 (4.5 and 1.4 per 100,000, respectively). […] Finally, a key factor in the recent rise in deaths due to cocaine is the concurrent involvement of opioids. From 2013 to 2018, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine with concurrent opioid involvement increased at a faster pace than the rate for deaths without concurrent opioid involvement.”
Below is a graph illustrating the drug overdoses deaths:
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