Drug Overdose Deaths Among Persons Aged 10-19 Years - United States, July 2019-December 2021.

Abstract

U.S. drug overdose deaths increased 30% from 2019 to 2020 and 15% in 2021, resulting in an estimated 108,000 deaths in 2021.* Among persons aged 14-18 years, overdose deaths increased 94% from 2019 to 2020 and 20% from 2020 to 2021 (1), although illicit drug use declined overall among surveyed middle and high school students during 2019-2020 (2). Widespread availability of illicitly manufactured fentanyls (IMFs),† proliferation of counterfeit pills resembling prescription drugs but containing IMFs or other illicit drugs,§ and ease of purchasing pills through social media¶ have increased fatal overdose risk among adolescents (1,3). Using CDC's State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS), this report describes trends and characteristics of overdose deaths during July 2019-December 2021 among persons aged 10-19 years (hereafter referred to as adolescents). From July-December 2019 to July-December 2021, median monthly overdose deaths increased 109%, and deaths involving IMFs increased 182%. Approximately 90% of overdose deaths involved opioids, and 83.9% involved IMFs; however, only 35% of decedents had documented opioid use history. Counterfeit pill evidence was present in 24.5% of overdose deaths, and 40.9% of decedents had evidence of mental health conditions or treatment. To prevent overdose deaths among adolescents, urgent efforts are needed, including preventing substance use initiation, strengthening partnerships between public health and public safety to reduce availability of illicit drugs, expanding efforts focused on resilience and connectedness of adolescents to prevent substance misuse and related harms, increasing education regarding IMFs and counterfeit pills, expanding naloxone training and access, and ensuring access to treatment for substance use and mental health disorders.