Disparities in Opioid Overdose Death Trends by Race/Ethnicity, 2018–2019, From the HEALing Communities Study

Opioid overdose deaths continue to increase in the United States, reaching 49 860 in 2019, the highest ever recorded.1 Non-Hispanic White individuals were disproportionately affected in the wave of prescription opioid deaths at the turn of the century; however, recent increases driven by heroin and fentanyl have been greater for non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals.

Objectives. To examine trends in opioid overdose deaths by race/ethnicity from 2018 to 2019 across 67 HEALing Communities Study (HCS) communities in Kentucky, New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio.