Opioids

Deaths from drug overdoses have risen steadily over the past two decades and have become the leading cause of injury death in the United States. Prescription drugs, especially opioids, have been increasingly implicated in drug overdose deaths over the last decade. In response to recent increases in opioid-related morbidity and mortality, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made addressing the opioid abuse problem a high priority. HHS is focused on implementing evidence-based approaches to reduce opioid overdoses and overdose-related mortality and the prevalence of opioid use disorder.

The HHS 5-Point Strategy To Combat the Opioids Crisis includes:

Better addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery services
Better data
Better research
Better targeting of overdose-reversing drugs
Better pain management

AHRQ is increasing the evidence base on this topic with data and research and provides a forum where communities can share their tools for combating the issue of opioid misuse.

Trends in Opioid-Related Hospitalizations by State

Interactive Map Highlights State-Specific Trends in Opioid-Related Hospital Care

Our interactive map allows users to explore State-specific information about opioid-related hospital stays, including trends in hospitalization rates broken down by sex, income and geographic area. The map, which includes information about 44 States and the District of Columbia, highlights data from AHRQ's Fast Stats, an online tool that offers national and state-specific data on hospital stays and emergency department visits, including data by age, gender, community-level income and urban versus rural residency. The map also features county-level data for 32 States on opioid-related hospitalization discharges and rates per 100,000 population.