Study Determines That Opioid Overdose is Statewide Problem in Connecticut

More than 2,200 people have died in Connecticut from opioid overdoses in the past 11 years—more than one every other day—a survey of state medical records done by the Yale School of Public Health has found.

The study results coincide with International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31 and show that even in an affluent state like Connecticut deaths from opioid overdoses are a widespread problem that are not limited to the inner cities.

A study of records at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner(OCME)found that only 22 of Connecticut’s 169 towns did not have a reported overdose death during this period and that there was a surprisingly high prevalence of overdose death in parts of Litchfield, Middlesex, and Windham counties as well as in the state’s major urban centers and their surrounding communities, suggesting that the problem is truly statewide.

In addition, the study found that:

• Sixty-one percent of the overdoses involved heroin; the remaining cases involved pharmaceutical opioids, such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, and methadone, or a combination of the opioids.
• Most of the deaths were among people 35-44 years old.
• There was an increasing trend of overdoses in older individuals, including some who are in their 50s and 60s.

“These data confirm the profound impact that drug misuse has on residents of almost all parts of Connecticut and remind us how important it is to implement effective prevention and treatment programs” said Paul D. Cleary, YSPH dean and director of the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS.

Robert Heimer, Ph.D., a professor in the division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases and the study’s lead investigator said that the findings illustrate the need for educational programs and active intervention to prevent and respond to opioid overdoses. This includes training people who abuse opioids in overdose prevention and response as well as expanding evidence-based drug treatment to assist opioid abusers in reducing their risk of overdose.

Mortality from overdoses of heroin and opioid analgesics have become the second leading cause of death among adults aged 20-55 in the United States. The data from Connecticut appear to be consistent with the national trend that, according to Centers for Disease Control estimates, will result in drug overdoses surpassing automobile accidents as the leading cause of accidental death among adults.

Heimer was joined in the analysis by Drs. Lauretta E. Grau, Russell Barbour and Traci C. Green, who recently completed her doctoral studies at Yale and has an appointment as assistant professor at Brown Medical School.