I thought overdose deaths were going down. The graph of 2023 rates shows otherwise. Did opioid death rates go down but other drug overdoses rise? Are we just seeing a move from one substance to another?
"the oldest adults have the highest death rates, but those have increased the least compared to 2019."
I struggle with this. When would/should we expect it to go down (if ever), and to what extent is this necessarily going impacted by a growing elderly population?
This is why I split it out by age group and look at age-adjusted mortality rates -- this is the actuarial approach. I care about rates by age group, not the total number of deaths per se (the crude rate for the whole population)
You can have lower number of deaths overall, but something way off when younger people are dying at higher rates -- and it will show up in these age-adjusted rates and in the rates for the different age groups.
This is also why I'm looking at the break out by the (underlying) cause of death. (and not just COVID, which has really dropped off the radar)
I thought overdose deaths were going down. The graph of 2023 rates shows otherwise. Did opioid death rates go down but other drug overdoses rise? Are we just seeing a move from one substance to another?
Yes, drug ODs in 2023 are LESS THAN those of 2022. When the CDC reports large decreases... it's large decreases versus the peak of 2022.
They're still a lot more than 2019.
All my comparisons are against pre-pandemic levels, rather than year-over-year changes.
"the oldest adults have the highest death rates, but those have increased the least compared to 2019."
I struggle with this. When would/should we expect it to go down (if ever), and to what extent is this necessarily going impacted by a growing elderly population?
This is why I split it out by age group and look at age-adjusted mortality rates -- this is the actuarial approach. I care about rates by age group, not the total number of deaths per se (the crude rate for the whole population)
You can have lower number of deaths overall, but something way off when younger people are dying at higher rates -- and it will show up in these age-adjusted rates and in the rates for the different age groups.
This is also why I'm looking at the break out by the (underlying) cause of death. (and not just COVID, which has really dropped off the radar)