This news item expired on Tuesday, October 31, 2017 so the information below could be outdated or incorrect.
Please see attached below for a 2017 Year-to-Date opioid diagnosis emergency department (ED) overdose visit report. This report distinguishes between a broad definition of opioid overdose visits (prescription opioids, heroin, other synthetic narcotics), and then more specifically, heroin overdose ED visits.
Some highlights in this report*:
- There were 646 opioid diagnosis overdose ED visits (August 2017) compared to 419 last year this time (August 2016). The majority were white (85%), male (64%) between the ages 25 to 34 (42%).
- In the last two months, July to August, we saw a significant increase (+124) in opioid overdose ED visits. This is the highest count of opioid overdose visits compared to previous months in 2017. This trend holds similar to 2016, when the highest count of opioid overdose ED visits occurred in August.
- There were 470 heroin diagnosis overdose ED visits (August 2017) compared to 248 last year this time (August 2016). This accounts for 73 percent of all opioid diagnosis overdose ED visits for August 2017.
- In the last two months, July to August, we saw 106 more heroin overdose ED visits.
* The North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT) is North Carolina’s statewide syndromic surveillance system.