Washington launches opioid and overdose death dashboard website

VANCOUVER Wash. (KPTV) - On Wednesday, the Washington State Department of Health launched an updated Opioid and Drug Overdose Data dashboard that includes county level data on hospitalizations and deaths caused by overdose of opioids and other drugs.

According to a statement from the department, the new dashboard presents information in an easier-to-understand format, making data more accessible.

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Preliminary data on the dashboard has been updated through 2022, and cocaine has been added to the list of drugs reported.

The data are updated quarterly from sources including death certificates and hospital discharge information and can be used to examine opioid morbidity and mortality due to drug overdose to help raise awareness of the opioid epidemic in Washington state.

“Drug overdose, particularly from opioids such as fentanyl, is a serious public health crisis in our country and in our state. Between 2007 and 2021, more than 17,500 Washington residents died from a drug overdose. Sixty-eight percent of those deaths involved an opioid, with the annual number nearly doubling since 2019,” said Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, MD, MPH. “It is our hope that community members and organizations across the state will use this data to understand who in their communities are most affected by opioids, and to advocate for treatment and services.”

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Like all publicly available DOH data, the dashboard suppresses small numbers to avoid sharing personal health information.

Information on how to prevent and respond to drug overdoses can be found on the DOH website.