Veteran drug overdose mortality, 2010-2019

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Veterans Affairs Healthcare

Background:

• Drug overdose mortality among Veterans increased between 2010 and 2016.
• This study examines overdose mortality trends from 2010 to 2019 for Veterans and non-Veterans.
• It analyzes trends by drug type and recent use of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess trends in drug overdose mortality among US Veterans from 2010 to 2019.
• To compare these trends with non-Veteran US adults.
• To examine the influence of drug type and VHA service utilization on mortality rates.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cross-sectional study utilizing VA medical records, the VA/Department of Defense Mortality Data Repository, and CDC WONDER.
• Joinpoint regression was employed to analyze trends.
• Age-adjusted overdose mortality rates were calculated and compared between Veterans and non-Veterans.

Main Results:

• Age-adjusted overdose mortality increased by 53.2% among Veterans and 79.0% among non-Veterans from 2010-2019.
• Veteran overdose mortality peaked in 2017 and declined slightly by 2019, but deaths involving synthetic opioids and psychostimulants continued to rise.
• In 2019, male Veterans had lower overdose mortality rates than male non-Veterans, but higher rates were observed for male Veterans with recent VHA use compared to those without.

Conclusions:

• From 2015, Veteran men showed lower age-adjusted overdose rates than non-Veteran men.
• Veterans with recent VHA use consistently had higher overdose rates than those without.
• Despite an overall decline in Veteran overdose deaths from 2017-2019, fatalities involving psychostimulants and synthetic opioids increased.