Report Identifies Patterns in Overdoses Involving Both Opioids and Stimulants
The findings of an exploratory study of synthetic opioid overdose deaths co-involving stimulants by decedents’ occupations and industries may help employers and others when implementing work-related substance use and overdose prevention programs, according to a recent CDC report. The results of the analysis, which was performed by authors with CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, NIOSH’s Division of Field Studies and Engineering, and Brown University School of Public Health, are published in the March 27 issue of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The authors examined multiple cause of death data from 2022 from the National Vital Statistics System, which collects information on U.S. births and deaths, to look for patterns among occupations and industries regarding overdose deaths involving stimulants such as psychostimulants or cocaine.
“Overdose deaths involving both synthetic opioids and stimulants have increased sharply in recent years,” the CDC report explains. “Although some persons who co-use opioids and stimulants have cited motivations related to functionality and alertness in the workplace, occupational patterns of co-use remain uninvestigated.”
The analysis found that farming, fishing, and forestry and construction and extraction occupations were among those with the highest percentages of overdoses involving both synthetic opioids and psychostimulants. The industry with the highest percentage of synthetic opioid overdose deaths involving psychostimulants—42.5 percent—was mining.
Whereas overdose deaths co-involving psychostimulants typically occurred among individuals with more physically demanding jobs, the authors found that overdose deaths with cocaine co-involvement occurred in occupations that are “generally less physically strenuous.” For example, occupations with the highest percentages of overdoses involving synthetic opioids and cocaine included healthcare support, community and social services, and business and financial professions. Industries with high percentages of overdose deaths co-involving synthetic opioids and cocaine include healthcare and social assistance, management of companies and enterprises, and finance and insurance.
The report highlights NIOSH’s Workplace Supported Recovery initiative as a way for workplaces to help prevent substance use, support persons with substance use disorders, and reduce work-related risk factors that may contribute to substance use disorders and overdose.
“To maximize their potential benefit, [workplace-supported recovery] and other workplace-oriented interventions might need to tailor their approaches based on potential psychostimulant or cocaine use within a given occupation or industry,” the report concludes.
To learn more, read the MMWR report.
Related: A guide released jointly by NIOSH and MSHA last year is intended to help occupational health and safety managers, mine operators, and others prevent opioid use disorder within the mining industry. The Synergist article “Can Ergonomics Programs Help Solve the Opioid Crisis?” may also be of interest.
