COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Monday, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) released a new report analyzing data from 2018 unintentional overdose deaths across the state.
According to the study, in 2018, 3,764 Ohioans died from unintentional drug overdoses. A third of those deaths occurred in the state's large central metro counties (Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Hamilton).
ODH analyzed deaths by county size and type based on classifications developed by the National Center for Health Statistics to classify counties from the most urban to the most rural.
While large central metro counties had the highest number of unintentional drug overdose deaths, small metro counties had the highest rate of unintentional drug overdose deaths. An overdose death rate refers to the number of overdose deaths per 100,000 population.
All county groupings saw decreases in the number of unintentional drug overdose deaths with the exception of mostly rural 'noncore' counties, which had a slight increase in deaths.
ODH analysis also showed that illicit fentanyl was involved in the majority of overdose deaths among all county groupings, ranging from 78.8% in large central metro counties to 53.4% in noncore counties.
Here is how the statistics broke down by county in Northeast Ohio:
- Ashtabula - 22 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 22.2
- Cuyahoga - 443 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 35.5
- Geauga - 12 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 16.2
- Lake - 71 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 34.7
- Lorain - 101 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 35
- Medina - 35 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 23.6
- Portage - 28 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 18.7
- Stark - 74 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 22.3
- Summit - 128 overdose deaths in 2018, overdose death rate 24.7
RELATED: Pharmacies say prescribers bear responsibility for opioid crisis in Cuyahoga and Summit counties
Check out the full analysis below:
