{"id":21458,"date":"2024-12-06T12:10:43","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T17:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=21458"},"modified":"2024-12-06T14:24:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T19:24:39","slug":"alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, opioid-related deaths cut the nation\u2019s average life expectancy at birth by eight months, according to a new Johns Hopkins study<\/a>. Overdose deaths nearly doubled for Black, Hispanic, and American Indian\/Alaska Native communities.<\/p>\n

The study, led by Alison Hill<\/a>, assistant professor of biomedical engineering<\/a>, and postdoctoral researcher Anne H. H\u00e9bert, examines how the opioid epidemic evolved since COVID-19\u2019s onset, which disrupted support systems, economic stability, and health care access.<\/p>\n

In 2022, over 80,000 of the 3.3 million U.S. deaths were caused by opioid-related overdoses. These deaths predominantly affected young adults, who lost an average of 38 years compared to U.S. life expectancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the number of deaths alone hardly captures the enormous burden of the opioid crisis on this country,\u201d says Hill, senior author of the study in The Lancet Regional Health\u2013Americas<\/em><\/a>. \u201cThese are people in their 20s and 30s\u2014it\u2019s taking away a huge number of potential years where they could have lived and contributed to society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using CDC mortality data, their analysis showed what was once viewed as a \u201crural white problem\u201d was seeping into other racial and ethnic communities. Additionally, \u201cpolysubstance\u201d overdoses involving multiple drugs made up about half of opioid-related deaths, with combinations of opioids and stimulants proving particularly fatal.<\/p>\n

The researchers have made their analyses available through a public dashboard and plan regular updates.<\/p>\n\"An<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johns Hopkins study reveals COVID-19’s impact on opioid deaths, reducing U.S. life expectancy and disproportionately affecting minority communities, highlighting a growing crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":21461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","issue-winter-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlarming Trends in Opioid Deaths - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Johns Hopkins study links COVID-19 disruptions to a rise in opioid-related deaths, highlighting significant impacts on life expectancy and minority communities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Johns Hopkins study links COVID-19 disruptions to a rise in opioid-related deaths, highlighting significant impacts on life expectancy and minority communities.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-06T17:10:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-06T19:24:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"868\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deboreah Ross\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deboreah Ross\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Deboreah Ross\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6\"},\"headline\":\"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-06T17:10:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-06T19:24:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":235,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Impact\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-06T17:10:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-06T19:24:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6\"},\"description\":\"Johns Hopkins study links COVID-19 disruptions to a rise in opioid-related deaths, highlighting significant impacts on life expectancy and minority communities.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":868,\"caption\":\"Opioid health risk and medical crisis with a prescription painkiller addiction epidemic concept as a group of people running away from a falling bridge of pills with 3D illustration elements.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6\",\"name\":\"Deboreah Ross\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deboreah Ross\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths - JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"Johns Hopkins study links COVID-19 disruptions to a rise in opioid-related deaths, highlighting significant impacts on life expectancy and minority communities.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"Johns Hopkins study links COVID-19 disruptions to a rise in opioid-related deaths, highlighting significant impacts on life expectancy and minority communities.","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2024-12-06T17:10:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-06T19:24:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":868,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Deboreah Ross","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deboreah Ross","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/"},"author":{"name":"Deboreah Ross","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6"},"headline":"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths","datePublished":"2024-12-06T17:10:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-06T19:24:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/"},"wordCount":235,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg","articleSection":["Impact"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/","name":"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-06T17:10:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-06T19:24:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6"},"description":"Johns Hopkins study links COVID-19 disruptions to a rise in opioid-related deaths, highlighting significant impacts on life expectancy and minority communities.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_686792212.jpg","width":1200,"height":868,"caption":"Opioid health risk and medical crisis with a prescription painkiller addiction epidemic concept as a group of people running away from a falling bridge of pills with 3D illustration elements."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2024\/12\/alarming-trends-in-opioid-deaths\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Alarming Trends in Opioid Deaths"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6","name":"Deboreah Ross","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g","caption":"Deboreah Ross"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21458"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21727,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21458\/revisions\/21727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}