Trends in varying modes of drug use in opioid toxicity deaths in Ontario from 2017 to 2021

Original research
by
MacDonald, Martha et al

Release Date

2023

Geography

Canada

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

No

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

No

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

Preliminary data indicate a shift toward inhalation instead of injection in opioid toxicity deaths. Understanding changing modes of drug use is essential to addressing the North American drug toxicity crisis driven primarily by unregulated fentanyl. This study aims to comprehensively characterize this shift across Ontario, Canada.

Findings/Key points

The prevalence of deaths where inhalation was the only mode of drug use almost doubled, rising from 22.0 % to 43.5 %. There was a corresponding 64.4 % decrease in opioid toxicity deaths with indication of injection alone (29.0 % to 10.3 %).

Design/methods

Population-based repeated cross-sectional study of accidental opioid toxicity deaths in Ontario from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2021 (n=6687).

doi.org

Keywords

Overdose
Mortality