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Mental Health and Substance Use Data
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Fatal Overdose Data
Deaths in Maricopa County which are potentially due to unnatural causes are investigated by the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner (OME) and postmortem examinations and laboratory testing is performed. Maricopa County Department of Public Health tracks deaths resulting from drug overdoses in Maricopa County.
While total overdoses are increasing, opioids are involved in a majority of fatal drug overdoses.
Overdose Data by Demographics
Demographics show differences in who experiences fatal drug overdoses.
Overdose Data by Substance
Breaking down data about the overdoses also reveals that fatal drug overdoses occur more given specific factors.
Natural/semi-synthetic opioids include drugs such as:
- Morphine
- Codeine
- Oxycodone
- Hydrocodone
- Hydromorphone
- Oxymorphone
Synthetic opioids include drugs such as:
- Tramadol
- Fentanyl
Commonly-prescribed opioids would include:
- Hydrocodone (Vicodin®)
- Oxycodone (OxyContin®, Percocet®)
- Oxymorphone (Opana®)
- Morphine (Kadian®, Avinza®)
- Codeine
- Fentanyl
- Hydromorphone
- Tapentadol
Suicide Data
Suicide death data are compiled using death certificate data for Maricopa County residents. Deaths due to suicide are identified using International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision underlying cause-of-death codes U03, X60–X84, and Y87.0.
All rates are presented per 100,000 residents using population data from the American Community Survey 5-year estimates.
The suicide death rate in Maricopa County, AZ tends to be slightly higher than the national suicide death rate. While the chart below presents crude rates, the age-adjusted suicide death rate in 2021 for Maricopa County was 16.4, while the provisional age-adjusted national suicide death rate was 14.0 per 100,000 individuals1.
Age-specific suicide death rates fluctuate year-to-year. 2021 suicide death rates were highest among those ages 25-44, followed closely by those 65+.
Suicide deaths among White non-Hispanics skew older than for non-Whites. The median age for White non-Hispanics who died by suicide was 52. In comparison, the median age for American Indian or Alaskan Native decedents was 29.5, for Black or African American decedents it was 31, for Hispanic or Latino decedents it was 32, and for Asian or Pacific Islander decedents it was 44.
Firearms were used in most suicide deaths between 2017-2021. However, the mechanism of suicide death can vary by population demographic. Youth suicides, for example, have a higher proportion of deaths by hanging compared to adults. And although firearms are the most common suicide mechanism for both men and women, poisonings are more common among women.