Report: Americans Are Now More Likely To Die Of An Opioid Overdose Than On The Road
For the first time in U.S. history, a leading cause of deaths — vehicle crashes — has been surpassed in likelihood by opioid overdoses, according to a new report on preventable deaths from the National Safety Council.
Americans now have a 1 in 96 chance of dying from an opioid overdose, according to the council’s analysis of 2017 data on accidental death. The probability of dying in a motor vehicle crash is 1 in 103.
“The nation’s opioid crisis is fueling the Council’s grim probabilities, and that crisis is worsening with an influx of illicit fentanyl,” the council said in a statement released Monday.
Fentanyl is now the drug most often responsible for drug overdose deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in December. And that may only be a partial view of the problem: Opioid-related overdoses also have been undercounted by as much as 35 percent, according to a study published last year in the journal Addiction.
The council has recommended tackling the epidemic by increasing pain management training for opioid prescribers, making the potentially lifesaving drug naloxone more widely available and expanding access to addiction treatment.
While the leading causes of death in the U.S. are heart disease (1 in 6 chance) and cancer (1 in 7), the rising overdose numbers are part of a distressing trend the nonprofit has tracked: The lifetime odds of an American dying from a preventable, unintentional injury have gone up over the past 15 years.
“It is impacting our workforce, it is impacting our fathers and mothers who are still raising their children,” said Ken Kolosh, manager of statistics at the National Safety Council. Kolosh said that those accidental deaths usually affect people in the “core of their life,” with greater financial and emotional ramifications than deaths of those in their later years.
Vehicle crashes remain a leading danger as well. Kolosh said half of people who died in crashes they analyzed were not wearing seatbelts. Meanwhile, the frequency of pedestrian deaths has increased, led by a jump in fatalities in urban areas.
Pedestrian deaths have been at a 25-year high, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. A 2017 study found that an average of 13 people a day were killed by cars between 2005 and 2014, and that people of color and the elderly are disproportionately at risk.
“Historically, roadways have been designed to make it as efficient as possible for the vehicle,” Kolosh said, noting that bicyclists and pedestrians have been shortchanged. “We now have to do a far better job of building our infrastructure to accommodate all road users.”
Kolosh said he hopes the council’s analysis will allay unfounded fears, and remind people of more common dangers.
“As human beings, we’re terrible at assessing our own risk,” Kolosh said. “We typically focus on the unusual or scary events … and assume that those are the riskiest.”
He said data show the opposite is true.
For example, an American’s likelihood of dying in a “cataclysmic storm” is just 1 in 31,394.
Dying as an airplane passenger? 1 in 188,364.
In a train wreck? 1 in 243,765.
Falling? 1 in 114.
Kolosh said the probability of dying in a fall has increased (it was 1 in 119 last year), driven by more recorded falls among older adults as the U.S. population ages. Experts say the best way to prevent that risk is exercise. It’s a reminder, Kolosh said, that each of the 169,936 preventable deaths recorded in 2017 were preventable.
“Your odds of dying are 1 in 1,” Kolosh quipped. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t do something. If, as a society, we put the appropriate rules and regulations in place we can prevent all accidental deaths in the future.”
My math may be wrong… but we have about 320 million people in this country and if we have 1 in 119 chances of dying from a fall… would that mean that you divide 320 million by 119 ? That comes out to 5.8 million will die from a fall..
Use the 1 in 96 chance of dying of a opiate overdose … comes out to 3.3 million dying from a opiate overdose.. where the last I saw the CDC reported some 70,000 deaths from ALL DRUG OVERDOSES…
Maybe they are using the “new math” and I am still using the “old math ” ?
Using these numbers and the reports out yesterday that the USA’s birth rate is at a THIRTY YEAR LOW… between the two… the population of USA could be totally EXTINCT in a few generations ?
Filed under: General Problems
So typical, when you dont have hard data to support your view, then manufacture some fake data. I continue to fact check reports like this in an effort to duplicate the outcomes and conclusion. Less than half.the time it can’t be done because most of the data has to be estimated from other sources. Actual raw data for such comparisons does not exist. For the best raw data which the CDC uses, search for their online data reporting system called CD Womder, it’s free to the public for use.
THIS KIND OF FACT TWISTING MAKES ME CRAZY THE 70,000 OD-DEATH FIGURE IS A GROSS EXAGGERATION THE CDC REPORTED SEVERAL MONTHS LATER THAT THE ACTUAL FIGURE WAS 10-12,000 OD-DEATH, IF ANYONE DOUBTS THIS FIGURE I HAVE A COPY
OF THE LETTER, NO ONE SEEMS TO VET ANYTHING ANYMORE, MANY MORE PEOPLE DIE IN THIS COUNTRY EVERY YEAR FROM EQUALLY PREVENTABLE CAUSES, WHY IS IT THAT WE NEVER HEAR ABOUT THAT, ALSO THERE IS NOT AND NEVER HAS BEEN AN OPIOID CRISIS, THAT TERM IS LIE CREATED BY THE U.S. GOV’T, THERE IS A FENTANYL CRISIS, THE ILLEGAL STREET DRUG KILLING ADDICTS, THE LACK OF PAIN MED TREATMENT IS ALSO KILLING INNOCENT AMERICANS AND CAUSING THEM GREAT SUFFERING, IN SPITE OF THE CONSTITUTION, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWS ECT. ANOTHER THING NEVER MENTIONED WHY?????
Yes Janie,very accurate,there is NO-NONE observation of what symptoms occur when someone is suddenly without p,mngmt.meds.The blood pressure rise that would normally be a critical situation for,let’s say,a cardiac event,THAT type of crisis would be instantly cared for.However,if a person had the same immediate health crisis due to sudden interruption of narcotic therapy,they would be treated disdainfully,and that if they got any treatment at all.What an astounding discrimination! I find it hard to believe we are going backwards so violently.
Opioid related overdoses are OVER-COUNTED by using deaths from heroin, illicit fentanyl, etc along with prescription drugs..
multiply overcounted, since they count each substance in the OD’s body as a death, giving the fascinating picture of people being able to die multiple times. I’ve never been able to find anything that indicates that they actually KNOW how many people die, b/c apparently they don’t keep track of the # of different substances per person, just the total # overall.
They’ve hidden this fact well enough that nearly everyone I’ve run across, including those in my Dr’s office, had no idea that the CDC used such a creative accounting system.
“Opioid-related overdoses also have been undercounted by as much as 35 percent, according to a study published last year in the journal Addiction.”
I want to know how the journal Addiction came to that percentage. It’s amazing how addiction “specialists” come up with their own, non-scientific findings in order to spew their bs and force SUD on everyone so they make more money. Thanks to the fake news & spreading of madeupm “facts” I’ve become severely jaded when it comes to the topic of addiction.
Thank you Pharmacist Steve for pointing out their lies.
AGREED!!