Durham Region Opioid Information System
Welcome to the Durham Region Opioid Information System
The Durham Region Opioid Information System (DROIS) interactive dashboard provides the latest opioid overdose-related statistics, including paramedic services response calls, emergency department visits and deaths.
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Annual data summary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Suspected opioid overdose paramedic services response calls In 2022, Region of Durham Paramedic Services (RDPS) responded to approximately 573 suspected opioid overdose calls, which is a decrease compared to 998 calls in 2021 and 725 in 2020. Emergency department visits for opioid poisonings There has been a general increase in the number of emergency department (ED) visits for opioid poisonings in Durham Region residents over the past 10 years, with the numbers fluctuating on a month-to-month basis. Between 2013 and 2022, the rate of ED visits in Durham Region residents due to opioid poisoning almost tripled from 24.8 visits to 70.1 visits per 100,000 people. Durham Region is lower than the 2022 Ontario ED visit rate for opioid poisonings of 80 visits per 100,000 people. Opioid toxicity deaths The number of deaths due to opioid toxicity in Durham Region residents has been increasing over the past nine years. In 2021, there were 129 deaths related to opioid poisoning in Durham Region, seven times the number in 2013. The rate of opioid toxicity deaths among Durham Region residents in 2021 was 17.9 deaths per 100,000 people, which was slightly lower than Ontario’s rate of 19.1 per 100,000 people.
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Suspected opioid overdose paramedic services response calls
Paramedic services calls for suspected opioid overdoses consisted of calls responded to by the Region of Durham Paramedic Services (RDPS) where naloxone was administered (by paramedics or prior to their arrival), or where the patient was thought to be overdosing on one or more opioid drugs or a combination of opioid and non-opioid drugs. Intentional overdoses were included. Because no drug testing was performed, it is possible that the patient did not overdose or overdosed on a non-opioid drug. The diagnosis recorded by the hospital or cause of death determined by the coroner may differ from paramedic services. Not all paramedic services calls result in the patient being transported to hospital. RDPS calls in Durham Region may include non-Durham Region residents. As well, RDPS may respond to calls outside of Durham Region and some overdose calls in Durham Region may be responded to by other paramedic services. Calls by other paramedic services would not be captured in this data. Calls responded to by RDPS outside of Durham Region are excluded from this data. We mapped calls based on the pick-up location of the RDPS call which may or may not reflect where the patient lives. Individuals may have more than one suspected opioid overdose call on separate occasions. The number of calls should not be interpreted as the number of individuals. This data only includes instances where 911 was called and underestimates the true number of overdoses in the community. Emergency department visits for opioid poisoningsSources: A confirmed opioid overdose emergency department (ED) visit is an unscheduled ED visit made to any emergency department in Ontario and includes ICD-10-CA codes T40.0 (poisoning by opium), T40.1 (poisoning by heroin), T40.2 (poisoning by other opioids), T40.3 (poisoning by methadone), T40.4 (poisoning by other synthetic narcotics), or T40.6 (poisoning by other and unspecified narcotics). For data from April 1, 2018 onwards, the following codes were also included: T40.20 (poisoning by codeine and derivatives), T40.21 (poisoning by morphine), T40.22 (poisoning by hydromorphone), T40.23 (poisoning by oxycodone), T40.28 (poisoning by other opioids, not elsewhere classified), T40.40 (poisoning by fentanyl and derivatives), T40.41 (poisoning by tramadol), T40.48 (poisoning by other synthetic narcotics, not elsewhere classified), T40.6 (poisoning by other and unspecified narcotics). We excluded cases with a query/suspected diagnosis (diagnosis prefix = Q). Each visit was captured only once, even if multiple opioids were involved. The number of visits does not represent the number of unique individuals, as individuals may have more than one visit at different times. Durham Region rates and counts represent patients who were residents of Durham Region and visited any ED in Ontario. To have the most current information possible, preliminary data were used from a weekly Ministry of Health report using the same diagnosis codes referenced above. This preliminarily data is subject to change and likely an underestimate of final data. Finally, ED visits underestimate the number of opioid overdoses since not all individuals who have an overdose visit an emergency department. Opioid toxicity deathsSources: Opioid toxicity deaths refer to all deaths in which a coroner or forensic pathologist determined the cause of death to be drug toxicity with opioid involvement, whether accidental or intentional. The Interactive Opioid Tool excluded deaths due to chronic substance use, medical assistance in dying, homicide, and trauma where an intoxicant contributed to the circumstances of the injury. Deaths were assigned to public health unit based on decedent’s postal code of residence. If residence postal code was unavailable, the postal code of the incident location was used, with location of death postal code being used if no other data available. Preliminary data were obtained directly from the Office of the Chief Coroner and includes both probable and confirmed opioid toxicity deaths. Preliminary data is subject to change and is assigned to public health unit primarily based on location of incident. If location of incident data is pending, region reflects location of death. |
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