Drug-Related Deaths

Lookbook Vol. 2

DEFINITION

The age-adjusted number of deaths due to drug injury (unintentional, suicide, homicide or undetermined) per 100,000 females ages 15-44 in 2018.39

19.6 per 100,000 females ages 15-44

20.3 per 100,000 females ages 15-44

OKLAHOMA

NATIONAL AVERAGE

Data Highlight:

Oklahoma ranks 26 (of 50) for women who have died due to a drug related injury. Hawaii has the lowest rate reported at 6.9, and West Virginia has the highest rate reported at 65.4 per 100,000 females ages 15-44. 39

Why We Care:

Substance use disorders are a chronic illness. Substance use changes the natural chemical balance in the brain and a person’s physiology, making it difficult, if not impossible to stop using a substance once a body’s need for a given substance has developed. 106 The road to recovery is long and often filled with relapses, a very normal part of working toward sobriety. Too many women in Oklahoma are dying due to drug-related injury, which includes unintentional, suicide, and homicide deaths. 106,107 Some of these deaths could be prevented if women had access to a variety of treatment options, including easier access to medication-assisted treatment (which is an effective, evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder). 107,108

What We Can Do:

- Ensure that the implementation of Medicaid expansion includes increased access to treatment - Work to de-stigmatize medication-assisted treatment - For those in clinical settings: work with fellow doctors, physician assistants, and registered nurses to complete buprenorphine training, making it possible to provide a medication-assisted treatment option in your clinic

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