Facts + Statistics: Mortality risk

 

Odds of dying from accidental injuries

The chart below shows the likelihood, or odds, of dying as a result of a specific type of accident. The odds of dying over a one-year period are based on the U.S. population as a whole, not on participants in any particular activity or on how dangerous that activity may be. For example, more people are killed in auto accidents than in motorcycle accidents or airplane crashes, not because riding a motorcycle or traveling in an airplane is more or less dangerous, but because far more people travel by car. Drug poisoning is the leading cause of injury death in the United States. The lifetime chances of dying from accidental drug poisoning were one in 68 in 2017, compared with one in 572 in a car accident and one in 218,106 for fatal injuries caused by lightning.

 

The opioid crisis

Opioid abuse and addiction is recognized as a significant public health problem in the United States. Drug overdose, from prescription and illegal drugs combined, is the leading cause of injury death in the United States. Between 2000 and 2017 deaths from drug overdose increased four-fold from 17,415 in 2000 to 70,237 in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Opioid analgesics, a group of prescription drugs that are used to alleviate chronic and acute pain, have been increasingly involved in the rise of drug overdose deaths over the same period. In 2000 there were 8,407 deaths attributed to opioids of all kinds, with prescription drugs and illegal drugs such as heroin, accounting for about half of all drug overdose deaths. By 2017 that proportion had grown to close to 70 percent. Heroin alone accounted for 11 percent of all drug overdose deaths in 2000 and grew to 22 percent in 2017.

 

Number Of Drug Overdose Deaths, 2000-2017

 

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(1) Drug overdose caused by prescription and illegal drugs.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.

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Many states and municipalities have filed lawsuits against opioid drug makers that they blame for a national addiction crisis. As of August 2018, there were more than 1,000 opioid-related lawsuits brought in more than 40 states, according to Fitch Ratings. In 2018, a judicial panel consolidated all federal cases—which numbered more than 1,500 at the beginning of 2019—against opioid manufacturers and distributors under one judge. Set to begin on October 21, 2019, the court of the Northern District of Ohio will try three consolidated Ohio lawsuits in a test case against four entities including makers and distributors. The plaintiffs include almost 200 municipal governments which will pursue reimbursement for the costs of drug addiction and its collateral damage. In addition, about 300 cases have been filed in 36 state courts. One of those cases,  the State of Oklahoma v. Purdue Pharma, which was scheduled to begin on May 28, 2019, ended in March as the company and its owners, the Sackler family, agreed to pay $270 million to settle the Oklahoma claims. The case was seen as a test that would set a standard for the drug company’s liability.

A June 2017 report issued by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association found that diagnoses of opioid-use disorder (addiction to opioids, including prescription painkillers and illegal narcotics such as heroin) increased almost 500 percent between 2010 and 2016. The study examined claims from 30 million people who had commercial insurance provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers. It found that opioid-use disorder was 40 times more likely in patients prescribed high doses for a short duration, compared with low doses for a short duration. Opioid-use disorder was seven times more likely when patients were prescribed a high dose for a long duration, rather than a low dose for a long duration. In addition, 21 percent of Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) commercially-insured members filled at least one opioid prescription in 2015, according to the report.

 

Health risks

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 635,260 fatalities in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Compared with 2015, age-adjusted death rates (which factor out differences based on age) in 2016 for eight of the 15 leading causes of death fell significantly. However there were significant increases in 2016 death rates for four causes: unintentional injuries, Alzheimer’s disease, suicide and Parkinson’s disease.

Influenza and pneumonia ranked eighth in 2016, with 51,537 fatalities. However, pandemic influenza viruses have the potential to be far more deadly. An estimated 675,000 Americans died during the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, the deadliest and most infectious known influenza strain to date.