The annual number of drug-poisoning deaths involving heroin more than doubled from 2002 to 2011, increasing from 2,089 to 4,397, the National Center for Health Statistics reported.
Over that period, the rate of heroin-related drug-poisoning deaths increased 171% among non-Hispanic whites aged 18-44 years – going from 1.4 per 100,000 population to 3.8 – and by 100% among non-Hispanic whites aged 45-64 years – from 0.7 to 1.4 per 100,000, according to the NCHS (MMWR 2014;63:595).
The rates for non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics, by comparison, were stable. Non-Hispanic blacks were at 1.0 per 100,000 for younger adults and 2.2 per 100,000 for those aged 45-64 years in 2002 and remained there in 2011. The rate for Hispanics aged 18-44 years rose from 1.3 to 1.5, but the rate for 45- to 64-year-olds dropped from 2 to 1.9 per 100,000, according to mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System.
