Andrew King1, Daniel Foley1, Cynthia Arfken1, Cynthia Aaron1, Lokman Sung1, Leigh Hlavaty1. 1. Andrew King, Daniel Foley, and Cynthia Aaron are with Wayne State University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Detroit, MI. Andrew King and Cynthia Aaron are also with Michigan Regional Poison Control Center, Detroit, MI. Cynthia Arfken is with Wayne State University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience. Lokman Sung and Leigh Hlavaty are with Wayne County Medical Examiner Office, Detroit, MI.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To identify opioids associated with a spike in opioid-related mortality in Wayne County, Michigan, from July 2016 through February 2017. METHODS: We reviewed records from the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office of 645 people who died because of accidental nonmedically prescribed opioid overdoses from July 2015 through July 2017. We analyzed basic demographics, locations of death, and all opioid toxicology results. Decedents who died in hospitals were excluded. RESULTS: Of the 645 people who died because of nonmedically prescribed opioid overdoses, 65% were male and 63% were White, with an average age of 43 years. Carfentanil was detected in 129 (20%) cases. During the 8-month mortality spike, carfentanil was detected in 114 of 419 cases (average = 27.2%; range = 6.4%-45.2%). Substances most frequently detected with carfentanil included morphine (57%), 6-monoacetylmorphine (38%), fentanyl (43%), norfentanyl (33%), tetrahydrocannabinol (34%), and cocaine (29%). CONCLUSIONS: The Wayne County spike in mortality temporally corresponded with the detection of carfentanil and a proportional increase in opioid overdose deaths with detectable carfentanil. Public Health Implications. The abrupt decrease in carfentanil-detected mortality coincided with an announcement indicating an impending ban on fentanyl analogs from China, which suggests that source control is an effective countermeasure.
OBJECTIVES: To identify opioids associated with a spike in opioid-related mortality in Wayne County, Michigan, from July 2016 through February 2017. METHODS: We reviewed records from the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office of 645 people who died because of accidental nonmedically prescribed opioid overdoses from July 2015 through July 2017. We analyzed basic demographics, locations of death, and all opioid toxicology results. Decedents who died in hospitals were excluded. RESULTS: Of the 645 people who died because of nonmedically prescribed opioid overdoses, 65% were male and 63% were White, with an average age of 43 years. Carfentanil was detected in 129 (20%) cases. During the 8-month mortality spike, carfentanil was detected in 114 of 419 cases (average = 27.2%; range = 6.4%-45.2%). Substances most frequently detected with carfentanil included morphine (57%), 6-monoacetylmorphine (38%), fentanyl (43%), norfentanyl (33%), tetrahydrocannabinol (34%), and cocaine (29%). CONCLUSIONS: The Wayne County spike in mortality temporally corresponded with the detection of carfentanil and a proportional increase in opioid overdose deaths with detectable carfentanil. Public Health Implications. The abrupt decrease in carfentanil-detected mortality coincided with an announcement indicating an impending ban on fentanyl analogs from China, which suggests that source control is an effective countermeasure.
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