Notes from the Field: Unintentional Drug Overdose Deaths with Kratom Detected - 27 States, July 2016-December 2017.

Emily O’Malley Olsen,Joshua G Schier,Nana Wilson,Julie O’Donnell,Christine L Mattson

doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6814a2

Abstract

Notes from the Field: Unintentional Drug Overdose Deaths with Kratom Detected - 27 States, July 2016-December 2017.

Highlights

CDC funds 32 states and the District of Columbia to abstract into State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS) detailed data on unintentional and undetermined intent opioid overdose deaths from death certificates and medical examiner and coroner reports, including postmortem toxicology results.† kratom is not an opioid, overdose deaths involving kratom are included in SUDORS.§ postmortem toxicology testing varies in scope among medical examiners and coroners, SUDORS records all substances detected on postmortem toxicology testing, along with overdose-specific circumstances
* https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm584952.htm. † Whereas most states in SUDORS submit data on 100% of their unintentional and undetermined intent opioid-involved overdose deaths, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Washington submit data on a subset of counties that reflect at least 75% of drug overdose deaths in the state. § SUDORS records data on fatal unintentional and undetermined intent overdoses in which at least one opioid contributed to death, as well as fatal overdoses with no contributing opioid, if substances that have opioid-like properties contributed to death
Data on 27,338 overdose deaths that occurred during July 2016–December 2017 were entered into SUDORS, and 152 (0.56%) of these decedents tested positive for kratom on postmortem toxicology

Summary

Introduction

CDC funds 32 states and the District of Columbia to abstract into SUDORS detailed data on unintentional and undetermined intent opioid overdose deaths from death certificates and medical examiner and coroner reports, including postmortem toxicology results.† kratom is not an opioid, overdose deaths involving kratom (including nonopioid overdose deaths) are included in SUDORS.§ postmortem toxicology testing varies in scope among medical examiners and coroners, SUDORS records all substances detected on postmortem toxicology testing, along with overdose-specific circumstances. § SUDORS records data on fatal unintentional and undetermined intent overdoses in which at least one opioid contributed to death, as well as fatal overdoses with no contributing opioid, if substances that have opioid-like properties (currently, kratom is the only such substance) contributed to death. SUDORS records all substances testing positive on postmortem toxicology testing (including those that did and did not contribute to death).

Results

Conclusion