Drug poisoning deaths in the United States, 1999–2012: a statistical adjustment analysis

Table 2 Drug involvement in drug poisoning deaths in high and low diagnosis states^a

Drug category/Manner of death	1999		2012
Drug category/Manner of death	Low diagnosis states^b	High diagnosis states^c	Low diagnosis states^b	High diagnosis states^c
Drug mentions
Narcotics	35.9	76.1	41.1	78.3
Opioid analgesics	13.4	23.8	24.7	52.1
Other narcotics	25.0	60.7	20.0	36.5
Heroin	10.8	7.9	12.2	18.5
Cocaine	13.5	29.3	6.6	13.5
Sedatives	5.6	11.0	10.6	24.8
Benzodiazepines	3.8	7.4	9.0	20.2
Psychotropics	7.7	17.0	8.5	23.9
Antidepressants	6.1	13.2	5.9	14.7
Antipsychotics	1.0	2.4	1.5	4.6
Stimulants	1.0	3.2	1.9	7.2
Other specified	7.4	6.4	4.9	11.0
Unspecified	66.7	30.7	68.4	36.5
>1 Major drug class^d	8.1	21.5	15.1	39.8
Drug poisoning rate^e	5.04	7.00	14.09	13.37
Manner of death
Accidental	64.1 %	49.6 %	80.6 %	73.5 %
Intentional	19.1 %	16.1 %	10.9 %	13.5 %
Undetermined intent	16.2 %	34.0 %	8.3 %	12.9 %
Homicide	0.6 %	0.3 %	0.2 %	0.1 %

^aData from the Multiple Cause of Death files
^bLow diagnosis states, defined as those with at least one drug specified for fewer than 68.8 % of drug poisoning deaths in both 1999 and 2012, include: Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Pennsylvania
^cHigh diagnosis states, defined as those with at least one drug specified for more than 89.6 % of drug poisoning deaths in both 1999 and 2012 include: Alaska, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia and Washington
^dTwo or more of the drug types: opioid analgesics, other narcotics, sedatives, psychotropics, or other specified drugs
^eDrug poisoning rate is per 100,000 population

ISSN: 1478-7954