Overview: Public Health Crisis and the

Demographics of the Opioid Epidemic

National Press Foundation
April 13, 2016

Debra Houry, MD, MPH

Director
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Nearly a half
million
people have died from drug
overdoses
in the United
Americans
die every day from an
States from
2000
to 2014.
opioid
overdoseincluding
prescription opioids and heroin.

78

249 million
prescriptions were written in 2013
enough for every adult American

For every
Rx opioid overdose death in 2011,
there were...

12 treatment admissions for opioids

25

emergency department visits for opioids

659
nonmedical opioid users
105 people who abused or were dependent
0

100

HSA NSDUH, DAWN, TEDS data sets.

200
on opioids

300

400

500

600

700

CDCs science and solutions

Protect the public by tracking

trends in the epidemic

Help states scale up

prevention efforts that work

Improve patient safety by

providing doctors with data

and guidance for evidencebased decision-making

CDC guideline for opioid prescribing

Primary care providers

Patients 18 with chronic pain

Outpatient settings
Not intended for patients undergoing active
cancer treatment, palliative care, or end-oflife care

www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose
Deb Houry, MD, MPH
Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

E-mail: vjz7@cdc.gov
Twitter: @DebHouryCDC