NCHS data brief
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Data from the National Vital Statistics System Mortality File. From 1999 through 2006, the number of fatal poisonings involving opioid analgesics more than tripled from 4,000 to 13,800 deaths. ⋯ In about one-half of the deaths involving opioid analgesics, more than one type of drug was specified as contributing to the death, with benzodiazepines specified with opioid analgesics most frequently. The age-adjusted death rate for poisoning involving opioid analgesics varied more than eightfold among the states in 2006.