Fourteen states saw a decline in drug overdose deaths between July 2016 and July 2017, according to provisional data released by the CDC and cited in a Feb. 22 Stateline report.
Here are five things to know.
1. The new numbers from the CDC are generated from death certificate data from all 50 states. The CDC has issued a monthly report with provisional overdose death data since August 2017. The reports offer an assessment of drug overdose mortality trends for rolling 12-month periods ending seven months prior to the release of each report.
2. The CDC reported a drop in overdose deaths over the 12-month period for Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. This compares with data previously released by the CDC for a 12-month period ending January 2017, which suggested just three states experienced declines in overdose deaths: Nebraska, Washington and Wyoming.
3. Caleb Alexander, MD, an epidemiologist and co-director of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness in Baltimore, told Stateline the new data "could be welcome news" amid the nation's ongoing opioid addiction and overdose crisis.
"If we're truly at a plateau or inflection point, it would be the best news all year," Dr. Alexander said. "But we're still seeing rates of overdose that are leaps and bounds higher than what we were seeing a decade ago and far beyond any other country in the world."
4. Despite the declining overdose death rates in 14 states, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania all experienced a 30 percent surge in overdose deaths over the 12-month period. The spike is likely attributable to the increased presence of extremely potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl in the illicit drug supply, according to Stateline.
5. The provisional data is subject to change because as many as 2 percent of death certificates may not have been reported for the 12-month period. The CDC's official overdose death numbers for 2017 will not be available until November 2018.
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