Findings seen across drug types and most ages, even when accounting for rates of drug misuse
Fifty-six countries from six continents surpassed U.S. life expectancy during 1933 to 2021
Premature adult mortality before age 70 years seen in study of middle-aged women followed for 18 years
Decrease also seen in estimated age-adjusted COVID-19 death rate, from 115.6 to 63.1 per 100,000 persons
However, fewer than one in 20 individuals receive buprenorphine
Themes include searching for answers and processing cause of death, incidental implications of SCD event
While COVID-19 drove this excess in 2021, nearly half of excess deaths were from other causes
One in 370 deaths among older adults was caused by an overdose in 2021
Standardized mortality rate increased for those receiving monotherapy, those receiving four or more meds, those without comorbidities
And, gap in overdose fatalities between Black and White individuals continues to widen