This data presents counts of provisional drug overdose deaths by selected drugs and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) public health regions, based on provisional mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System. This data is limited to drug overdose deaths with an underlying cause of death assigned to International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) code numbers X40-X44 (unintentional), X60-X64 (suicide), X85 (homicide), or Y10-Y14 (undetermined intent). Specific drugs were identified using methods for searching literal text from death certificates. The provisional data are based on a current flow of mortality data and include reported 12 month-ending provisional counts of drug overdose deaths by jurisdiction of occurrence and specified drug. Provisional drug overdose death counts presented on this page are for “12-month ending periods,” defined as the number of deaths occurring in the 12-month period ending in the month indicated. For example, the 12-month ending period in June 2022 would include deaths occurring from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022. Evaluation of trends over time should compare estimates from year to year (June 2021 and June 2022), rather than month to month, to avoid overlapping time periods. It is important to note that the data represent counts of deaths, and not mortality ratios or rates, which are the standard measure used to compare groups, and therefore should not be used to determine populations at disproportionate risk of drug overdose death.

This dataset provides model-based provisional estimates of the weekly numbers of drug overdose, suicide, and transportation-related deaths using “nowcasting” methods to account for the normal lag between the occurrence and reporting of these deaths. Estimates less than 10 are suppressed. These early model-based provisional estimates were generated using a multi-stage hierarchical Bayesian modeling process to generate smoothed estimates of the weekly numbers of death, accounting for reporting lags. These estimates are based on several assumptions about how the reporting lags have changed in recent months across different jurisdictions, and the resulting estimates differ from other sources of provisional mortality data. For now, these estimates should be considered highly uncertain until further evaluations can be done to determine the validity of these assumptions about timeliness. The true patterns in reporting lags will not be known until data are finalized, typically 11–12 months after the end of the calendar year. Importantly, these estimates are not a replacement for monthly provisional drug overdose death counts, or quarterly provisional mortality estimates. For more detail about the nowcasting methods and models, see: Rossen LM, Hedegaard H, Warner M, Ahmad FB, Sutton PD. Early provisional estimates of drug overdose, suicide, and transportation-related deaths: Nowcasting methods to account for reporting lags. Vital Statistics Rapid Release; no 11. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. February 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15620/ cdc:101132

This data shows a count of unintentional overdose deaths by year within the city limits of Austin. The data is reported from the Office of Vital Statistics. View more details and insights related to this data set on the story page: https://data.austintexas.gov/stories/s/HE-B-4b-Number-of-unintentional-overdose-deaths/vmwr-d85g/