Almost 107,000 people in the United States died in 2021 from a drug overdose, and the vast majority of those deaths were men, according to a Mount Sinai study published June 15 in Neuropsychopharmacology.
Researchers at the New York City-based Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported "men had a two to three times greater rate of overdose mortality from opioids (like fentanyl and heroin) and psychostimulants (like methamphetamine and cocaine)," according to a June 15 Mount Sinai new release.
While men use drugs more than women, the researchers noted, "This alone does not explain the gap in overdose deaths." They said behavioral, biological and social factors combined are reasons for the increased mortality risk for men.
Researchers analyzed CDC data on overdoses among people in the U.S. ages 15 to 74 in 2020 and 2021. They also considered state-level data from across the nation from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health to identify rates of misuse among men and women.
The study looked at misuse data regarding four types of drugs to determine overdose statistics by gender and found the higher overdose death rate in men was consistent across states and across lifespan.
According to the study, synthetic opioids (such as fentanyl) caused 29 deaths per 100,000 people for men, compared to 11.1 deaths for women. Heroin was the cause of 5.5 deaths per 100,000 people for men, compared to 2.0 for women. Psychostimulants such as methamphetamine caused 13 deaths per 100,000 people for men, compared to 5.6 for women. Finally, cocaine was blamed for 10.6 deaths per 100,000 people for men, compared to 4.2 for women.
"These data emphasize the importance of looking at the differences between men and women in a multilayered way," Eduardo Butelman, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine and a lead author on the study, said in the release. "Moving forward, it will be important for researchers to continue to investigate how biology, social factors and behaviors intersect with sex and gender factors, and how all of these can impact addictive drug misuse and overdose deaths."