Female Veterans, Veterans from Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups at Higher Risk of Dying from Opioid Overdose | North Carolina Governor's Working Group [NCGWG]

Veterans face a significantly heightened risk of dying from opioid overdose—a trend that has steadily worsened over the past two decades. Between 2010 and 2019, male veterans experienced a 61.2% increase in the risk of overdose death. Notably, this sharp rise was not seen among female veterans, even though opioid use disorder (OUD) has been increasing more rapidly among women than men in the general population. Racial disparities in opioid overdose deaths are also prominent with a significant increase in death due to opioids among all racial and ethnic minority veterans, except American Indian or Alaskan Native veterans.

Given increases in opioid overdose rates and policy changes expanding access to medications for OUD during the COVID-19 pandemic, Boston University and Department of Veterans Affairs researchers sought to understand how the opioid overdose epidemic impacted veterans with opioid use disorder. In their new study, they found female veterans and veterans from racial and ethnic minority groups were at higher risk of dying from an opioid overdose than other veterans.