COLUMBUS –The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has released a new report analyzing the 2018 unintentional drug overdose deaths. ODH analyzed deaths by county size and type based on classifications developed by the National Center for Health Statistics to classify counties from the most urban to the most rural.

Clinton County is in the “Micropolitan” category, which also includes Fayette County; Highland County is in the “Noncore” (non-metro/mostly rural) category; Warren County and Brown County are in the “Large Fringe Metro” category; and Greene County is in the “Medium Metro” category.

In the “Average Age Adjusted Rate of Unintentional Drug Overdose Death by County, Ohio, 2013-2018”, with death rates per 100,000 population, Clinton County had 44.5 per 100,000 population, the 9th-highest rate of Ohio’s 88 counties; other local counties’ numbers were: Fayette County, 47.5 (6th highest); Highland County, 23.6 (48th); Greene County, 28.5 (32nd); Warren County, 22.8 (52nd); and Brown County, 54.9 (2nd).

Other key findings from this analysis include:

• In 2018, 3,764 Ohioans died from unintentional drug overdoses. The number and rate of unintentional drug overdose deaths varied considerably by demographic factors, including county/region of residence.

• While large central metro counties had the highest number of unintentional drug overdose deaths, small metro counties had the highest rate of unintentional drug overdose deaths. An overdose death rate refers to the number of overdose deaths per 100,000 population.

• All county groupings saw decreases in the number of unintentional drug overdose deaths with the exception of mostly rural “noncore” (non-metro) counties, which had a slight increase in deaths.

• Illicit fentanyl was involved in the majority of overdose deaths among all county groupings, ranging from 78.8% in large central metro counties to 53.4% in noncore counties.

• When considering combinations of fentanyl and other drug categories, the combination of fentanyl and cocaine was involved in the highest percentage of deaths for all county groupings with the exception of micropolitan* and noncore counties. For micropolitan and noncore counties, the combinations of fentanyl and psychostimulants (e.g. methamphetamines) and fentanyl and heroin had the highest percentage of deaths.

The full report is online at http://bit.ly/32m84kt .

Information and resources on where to get help for a substance use disorder are available at RecoveryOhio.gov.