Research Day
VETERANS AND THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC: MEDICOLEGAL DEATH INVESTIGATION OF OPIOID-RELATED DEATHS OF MICHIGAN VETERANS
Document Type
Abstract
Date
2021
Abstract
Military veterans face unique challenges, placing them at a higher risk for opioid prescription, opioid use disorder, and fatal overdose. Veterans are at higher risk than non-veterans for chronic pain, PTSD, TBI, and fatal opioid overdose. Considering the current opioid epidemic, this study examines the rates of medicolegally-investigated opioid-related deaths among veterans in 12 counties in Michigan since 2008. Our analysis revealed that opioids were present in postmortem toxicology in 8.9% of investigated deaths. Additionally, we found an increase in opioid-related deaths among veterans beginning in 2015 and peaking in 2018. There were a total of 15 opioid-related deaths between 2008-2014, and 264 deaths between 2015 and 2019, outlining the rapid escalation to "crisis" levels. The number of deaths decreased in 2019, perhaps suggesting that preventive efforts are proving effective, and a "peak" of the opioid epidemic among veterans. Our study provides novel data, identifying fentanyl, methadone and oxycodone as the most commonly found opioids in veteran opioid-related deaths, differing from previous studies identifying hydrocodone, morphine, and fentanyl as the most common opioids in veteran overdoses. The presence of methadone in postmortem toxicology suggests a wider availability of methadone to veterans compared to previous studies. Given the novel findings of both the recent decline in opioid-related deaths and the prevalence of methadone among opioid-related veteran deaths, we believe this study offers compelling new directions for investigation in the midst of the highly-relevant opioid epidemic, especially among the high-risk population of our military veterans.