In the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, opioid-related deaths cut the nation’s average life expectancy at birth by eight months, according to a new Johns Hopkins study. Overdose deaths nearly doubled for Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native communities.
The study, led by Alison Hill, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and postdoctoral researcher Anne H. Hébert, examines how the opioid epidemic evolved since COVID-19’s onset, which disrupted support systems, economic stability, and health care access.
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.
“Just the number of deaths alone hardly captures the enormous burden of the opioid crisis on this country,” says Hill, senior author of the study in The Lancet Regional Health–Americas. “These are people in their 20s and 30s—it’s taking away a huge number of potential years where they could have lived and contributed to society.”
Using CDC mortality data, their analysis showed what was once viewed as a “rural white problem” was seeping into other racial and ethnic communities. Additionally, “polysubstance” overdoses involving multiple drugs made up about half of opioid-related deaths, with combinations of opioids and stimulants proving particularly fatal.
The researchers have made their analyses available through a public dashboard and plan regular updates.
