Threefold increase seen in unintentional drug overdose death rates from 2003 to 2019, followed by 58 percent increase through 2022
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, March 20, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The total injury death rate in the United States increased from 2013 through 2021, then declined through 2023, according to a March data brief published by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Sally C. Curtin, from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, presents trends in injury death rates overall and by three leading intents (unintentional, suicide, and homicide) for 2003 to 2023.
Curtin found that the total age-adjusted injury death rate increased 21 percent from 2013 to 2019 (58.8 to 71.2 per 100,000 standard U.S. population) after a period of stability from 2003 to 2013; there was an additional 25 percent increase through 2021 (89.0), followed by a 4 percent decline through 2023 (85.3). From 2003 to 2019, there was a threefold increase in unintentional drug overdose death rates, followed by a 58 percent increase through 2022 and a 4 percent decline through 2023. From 2006 to 2018, there was an increase in firearm-involved suicide death rates, followed by a decline in 2019 and an increase through 2021; rates remained stable through 2023. The firearm-involved homicide death rate declined from 2003 to 2014, then increased through 2021, and declined through 2023.
“Drug overdose was the leading method of unintentional injury deaths during 2013 to 2023,” Curtis writes. “Death rates increased from 2003 to 2022, with the largest increase from 2019 to 2022.”
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