Racial Disparities Seen in Unintentional Overdose Mortality

WEDNESDAY, April 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — There are disparities in overdose mortality, with a pronounced and increasing burden of mortality for Black men and Black women, according to a study published online April 1 in JAMA Network Open.

Kechna Cadet, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, and colleagues examined intersectional sex-specific White and Black racial disparities in drug poisoning mortality across states from 2010 to 2020 in a cross-sectional study using unintentional fatal drug poisoning mortality data.

Overall, 11,820,781 years of potential life lost (YPLL) were recorded from a total sample of 518,724 unintentional fatal drug poisoning deaths. The highest mean age-adjusted mortality rate was seen for Black men (23.25), followed by White men, White women, and Black women (22.49, 11.71, and 9.01, respectively). Compared with White men, both Black men and Black women had worsening YPLL over time, while White women showed improvement in YPLL over time (τ = 0.298, 0.157, and −0.146, respectively). There was a disproportionate burden of deaths due to drug poisonings at the state level; the highest increase in mortality rates among Black men was seen in Maryland (485.4 percent), while states such as Alaska had decreases for White women (−23.0 percent).

“Efforts to reduce drug-related mortality must address the specific needs of marginalized communities, especially Black men,” Cadet said in a statement. “Addressing these disparities requires a comprehensive, multifaceted approach that targets social, economic, physical, and policy risk factors.”

Abstract/Full Text