While drug overdose death rates among adolescents fell by 26 percent from 2007 to 2014, the rate began climbing in 2015, according to a report from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.
The report examines mortality and population data from NCHS' multiple cause-of-death mortality files from 1999 to 2015. In 2014, the death rate for drug overdoses among adolescents age 15 to 19 was 3.1 per 100,000. That increased to 3.7 in 2015.
Among all drug overdose deaths in 2015 for adolescents, 80.4 percent were unintentional. The remaining were suicides (13.5 percent), undetermined intent (5.2 percent) and homicides (0.9 percent).
Drug overdose death rates among the age group were highest for opioids, especially heroin. Heroin overdose deaths were three times higher in 2015 than in 1999.
For the full report, click here.