Study: Ohioans lost 500k+ years of potential life from overdose death since 2010

Ohioans lost more than a half-million years of potential life due to fatal opioid overdoses from 2010 through 2016, according to an analysis released this week (Source: “Ohioans lose 519,471 years of life from opioid overdose deaths in 7 years,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 14, 2018).

The report by the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health found that, on average, preventable overdose deaths knocked almost 40 years off the lives of the 13,059 Ohioans who died, leaving holes in the lives of their families, communities and the economy.   

In 2016 alone, the losses, mainly from heroin and fentanyl, were so staggering that they lowered the life expectancy of an average Ohioan by more than a year.

Using state data on fatal opioid overdose deaths, the report’s authors calculated the years of life lost based on standard life expectancy figures from the U.S. Social Security Administration.