A quarter of deaths among young adults in Canada are linked to opioids

AGI – Premature opioid-related deaths doubled between 2019 and 2021 across Canada, with more than 1 in 4 deaths among young adults aged 20 to 39 attributable to opioids. This was revealed by new research published in CMAJ, the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Opioid-related deaths have continued to increase over the past decade across Canada, resulting in an estimated 6,222 deaths in 2021. This trend has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, although the magnitude and speed of increases has varied across countries. provinces and territories. These changes have been attributed primarily to the unregulated supply of drugs, which has become increasingly unpredictable during the pandemic.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, loss of life due to opioid addiction has worsened across nearly all of Canada, with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba experiencing huge increases in deaths, particularly among younger populations.” , said Tara Gomes, a scientist at Unity Health in Toronto and senior author of the study. “Without adequate investments in widespread and accessible treatment and harm reduction programs, and in broader social supports such as housing, these preventable deaths are having devastating effects on communities across the country,” Gomes continued.

To understand the trends and impact of opioid-related deaths, researchers examined data on accidental deaths due to opioid toxicity in 9 provinces and territories in Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories. In just 3 years, between 2019 and 2021, the annual number of opioid-related deaths went from 3007 to 6222. Even more surprising is the amount of years of life lost due to premature death from opioid addiction, which is more than doubled in Canada over the study period, reaching more than a quarter of a million in 2021.

“It is alarming that in 2021, 1 in 31 deaths among people aged 85 and younger were attributed to opioids, a number that rises to 1 in 4 deaths among young adults aged 20 to 39.” , said Shaleesa Ledlie, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. “This scale of opioid-related harm, particularly among young people, is unprecedented and illustrates the scope of this public health crisis across the country,” Ledlie continued. While the concentration of harm in younger populations is consistent across the 9 Canadian provinces and territories included in this study, some provinces were disproportionately affected. For example, in Alberta, nearly half of all deaths among people aged 20 to 39 were linked to opioids.

In Canada, access to health and social care services has been severely reduced or limited during the pandemic, resulting in changes in drug use patterns and the accessibility of community services for people who use drugs. However, despite the reopening of services in recent years, rates of opioid-related deaths remain high across the country, indicating an urgent need to work with communities to increase services to support people who use drugs .