Vital Signs: Risk for Overdose from Methadone Used for Pain Relief — United States, 1999–2010

July 6, 2012
Researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed rates of fatal methadone overdoses and sales nationally during 1999–2010 and rates of overdose death for methadone compared with rates for other major opioids in 13 states for 2009. The analysis revealed that between 1999 and 2009, the mortality rate involving methadone increased nearly six-fold, from less than 0.5 per 100,0000 (790 deaths) in 1999 to about 1.5 per 100,000 in 2009 (about 5,000 deaths).
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