(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) public health researchers have found that opioid deaths in Cook County have been undercounted by as much as 15%.
Researchers found that the overdose deaths most likely to be missed were those among patients over the age of 50, patients with a diagnosis of malignant cancer, or patients admitted to the hospital for at least four days.
The goal was to capture regional data, so public health authorities might better fight the opioid crisis.
Lee Friedman, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health, was among the researchers leading the study.
“We began to have this kind of hunch that maybe we’re missing those people who are dying in the hospital because they’re older,” Friedman said. “They don’t fit the profile, the stereotype — actually, the stigma — of someone with an opioid use disorder.”
Researchers compared hospital records from 2016 – 2019 with data from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office during the same period. They found that just under 20% of deceased hospital patients who died with overdose symptoms had their cause of death confirmed by a medical examiner.
The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Epidemiology.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, Cook County ranked second in the nation for fatal overdoses in 2020. In 2021, overdose deaths surpassed the county’s 2020 numbers.
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