Key Objectives:
- To become familiar with the CSTE Overdose Subcommittee and its tools, recommendations, and accomplishments to address common problems with drug overdose surveillance using death certificates;
- To share experiences and needs; and
- To give input on future goals, opportunities, and possible priorities for the Subcommittee
Brief Summary:
Poisoning is the leading cause of injury death in the United States, with drug poisoning (drug overdose) accounting for more than 90% of poisoning deaths. Consistent data quality and methods are critical for understanding populations at risk and underlying trends, and for evaluating new state laws enacted to prevent overdose. To address the need for consistent case definitions, the Safe States Injury Surveillance Workgroup on Poisoning (ISW7) released recommended definitions in 2012. The CSTE Overdose Subcommittee tested the recommended definitions for fatal drug poisoning (drug overdose) in eleven states and assessed sensitivity of death certificates to accurately report drug-specific deaths using medical examiner and toxicology data in three states. Based on the findings, the CSTE Overdose Subcommittee created a SAS epidemiologic tool for identifying specific drugs involved in overdoses and wrote recommendations for improving drug-specific data quality. Created with assistance from the National Center for Health Statistics, the epi tool allows state and local injury programs to analyze the literal text of the death certificates and identify specific drugs involved. The recommendations address how state and jurisdictional epidemiologists can work with vital statistics registrars, medical examiners, and coroners to improve the quality of information available on death certificates. Participants will hear about the tool and recommendations, ask questions. They can share experiences, needs, or additional lessons learned. This session provides participates an opportunity to shape the future work of the Subcommittee. They can give input on goals, opportunities, and possible priorities for the Subcommittee to address additional issues and needs related to drug overdose surveillance. This session builds upon last year’s roundtable “Best Practices for Improving the Quality of Death Certificate Information on Drug Poisoning Deaths.” This session complements the pre-conference workshop on substance abuse and a possible substance abuse subcommittee roundtable by allowing additional time to focus specifically on drug overdose.