A recent study conducted by the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health accounted for 519,471 years of lost life expectancy, according to Market Watch.
"These are people in the prime of life during their most productive years," Rick Hodges, director of OAIPH, said in a statement.
The study used data from the Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics and Ohio Death Certificate File from the years 2010 to 2016, calculating the years of life lost at the state and county levels.
Statistical patterns from the study suggested opioid-related overdoses increased by 30 percent between July 2016 and September 2017 in at least 45 states. States in the Midwest showed a 70 percent spike over the same duration.
"One of the most heartbreaking aspects of the opioid epidemic is the incredible loss of life as so many young people die of overdoses," Randy Leite, PhD, dean of Athens-based Ohio University's Ohio College of Health Sciences and Professions, told Market Watch.
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