Poisoning and Methadone-Related Deaths: U.S, 1999-2005

Posted on by NCHS

Did you know that  poisoning was the second leading cause of injury death in the United States in 2005? This surpasses firearms injury death for the first time in 2004. The majority of poisoning deaths are due to unintentional drug overdoses.

Narcotic-related deaths have played the largest role in the increase of all poisoning deaths from 1999 to 2005 (the years for which data are available). They are responsible for 56 percent of all poisoning deaths in 2005, increasing from 50 percent in 1999. Their absolute numbers increased 84 percent  over the 7 years period.

Methadone-related deaths have increased more than other Narcotic-related deaths. You can read more about Methadone-related Deaths here…

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Page last reviewed: February 21, 2008
Page last updated: February 21, 2008