• Michelle L Nolan, Sindhu Shamasunder, Cody Colon-Berezin, Hillary V Kunins, and Denise Paone.
• Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care, and Treatment, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 42-09 28th St, 19th Floor, Queens, New York, NY, 11101, USA. mnolan2@health.nyc.gov.
• J Urban Health. 2019 Feb 1; 96 (1): 49-54.

AbstractAfter remaining stable from 2010 to 2014, the  rate of cocaine-involved overdose death increased sharply from 2015 to 2016. This study aims to determine the contribution of opioids, and fentanyl in particular, to the increase in cocaine-involved overdose death from 2015 to 2016. Using New York City death certificate data linked to medical examiner toxicology data, we identified all overdose deaths where post-mortem toxicology results were positive for cocaine from 2010 to 2016. We analyzed cocaine-involved overdose deaths by co-occurring substances. Age-adjusted rates per 100,000 residents were calculated for 6-month intervals from 2010 to 2016. Data suggest that increased deaths involving opioids, specifically fentanyl, accounted for most of the increase in cocaine-involved deaths from 2015 to 2016.

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