A four-year study of opioid deaths in suburban Cook County has revealed new data, including the locations where opioid use most often ends in death.
“Poverty and addiction — there’s certainly a connection there,” says Dr. Kiran Joshi, senior medical officer for the Cook County Department of Public Health.
The highest mortality rates from opioids, based on zip codes, were in western and southwestern suburbs: Worth, Broadview, Maywood and Forest Park.
The study found a big increase in opioid overdose death rates among African Americans, especially middle-aged men, 35 to 64.
In suburban Cook County there have been 1,576 deaths from opioid overdoses since 2016, the report said. More than 80% of those deaths involved heroin and/or fentanyl.
Joshi said another finding invites more investigation: Opioid hospitalizations and deaths among Hispanics and Latinx are significantly lower than among Blacks and whites.
“Why is that? We’re not quite sure,” Joshi said.
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