Drug, alcohol deaths on the rise among older Americans

Drug and alcohol abuse have impacted seniors in the United States, as it has among younger Americans. Over 5,000 people ages 65 and over in the U.S. died of a drug overdose in 2020, and more than twice that many (11,616) died of alcohol-induced causes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted data that included drug overdose deaths in adults aged 65 and older between 2000 and 2020.

• Between 2000 and 2020, age-adjusted rates of drug overdose deaths for adults aged 65 and over increased from 2.4 to 8.8 deaths per 100,000 standard population.

• For men aged 65–74 rates of drug overdose deaths were higher among non-Hispanic Black men compared with Hispanic and non-Hispanic White men.

• For women aged 65–74, drug overdose death rates were higher for non-Hispanic

Black women compared with Hispanic and non-Hispanic White women, but for women aged 75 and over, non-Hispanic White women had the highest rates.

• The age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (such as fentanyl) for adults aged 65 and over increased by 53% between 2019 (1.9) and 2020 (2.9).

In 2020, alcohol-induced causes were recorded as the underlying cause of death for 11,616 adults aged 65 and over.

Alcohol-induced death rates were higher for men than women in 2020—3.4 times higher for age group 65–74 and 4.1 times higher for 75 and over.

From 2019 to 2020, age-adjusted rates increased by 9.5% for Hispanic adults, 46.5% for non-Hispanic adults, 19.7% for non-Hispanic Black adults, and 19.0% for non-Hispanic White adults.