Lea County Health Highlights: Drug-Induced Death

Drug-Induced Deaths

Lea County Compared to State


*Description of Dashboard Gauge

Description of the Dashboard Gauge

This "dashboard" type graphic is based on the community data on the right. It compares the community value on this indicator to the state overall value.
  • Excellent = The community's value on this indicator is BETTER than the state value, and the difference IS statistically significant.
  • Watch = The community's value is BETTER than state value, but the difference IS NOT statistically significant.
  • Improvement Needed = The community's value on this indicator is WORSE than the state value, but the difference IS NOT statistically significant.
  • Reason for Concern = The community's value on this indicator is WORSE than the state value, and the difference IS statistically significant.

The community value is considered statistically significantly different from the state value if the state value is outside the range of the community's 95% confidence interval. If the community's data or 95% confidence interval information is not available, a blank gauge image will be displayed with the message, "missing information."
NOTE: The labels used on the gauge graphic are meant to describe the community's status in plain language. The placement of the gauge needle is based solely on the statistical difference between the community and state values. When selecting priority health issues to work on, a community should take into account additional factors such as how much improvement could be made, the U.S. value, the statistical stability of the community number, the severity of the health condition, and whether the difference is clinically significant.

Why Is This Important?

For many years, New Mexico has been among the top U.S. states for drug-induced death, largely due to the high rates of unintentional drug poisoning or overdose. Although the burden from illicit drugs remains high, there has been a considerable rise in prescription drug overdose death in New Mexico and other U.S. states. In 2007, drug overdose was the leading cause of unintentional injury death in New Mexico and accounted for 9.6% of lost life due to premature death, among all causes of death.

In the U.S., drug overdose is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death behind motor vehicle crashes, but is the leading cause of injury death among persons 35 to 54 years of age. In 2007, unintentional drug overdose accounted for 6.0% of lost life due to premature death among all causes of death in the U.S.

In addition to the high death rates, drug abuse is one of the most costly health problems in the U.S. , estimated at $180.8 billion in 2002 according to costs of illness studies by the National Institutes of Health. (http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/economic_costs/). Drug abuse disorders are associated with a number of well-recognized sequelae: health consequences and their impacts on the health care system; criminal behavior, violence and participation in the drug trade, as a means for income; and job loss, with subsequent dependence on societal safety nets.

Healthy People 2010 Objective 15.8:

Deaths from poisoning (age adjusted per 100,000 standard population)
U.S. Target for 2010: 1.5/100,000 population

Related Indicators

Health Status Outcomes:


Drug-Induced Death by New Mexico County, 2007-2009

::chart - missing::

Lea County 17.0
95% Confidence Interval

Description of 95% Confidence Interval

The confidence interval indicates the range of probable true values for the level of risk in the community.

A value of "DNA" (Data Not Available) will appear if the confidence interval was not published with the IBIS indicator data for this measure.

For more information on confidence intervals, visit the New Mexico IBIS confidence interval page at http://ibis.health.state.nm.us/resources/ConfidenceInterval.html.
(11.3 - 25.2)
Statistical Stability

Description of Statistical Stability

  • Stable = This count or rate is relatively stable and should provide a good estimate of your community risk.
  • Unstable = This count or rate is statistically unstable (RSE >0.30), and may fluctuate widely due to random variation (chance).
  • Very Unstable = This count or rate is extremely unstable (RSE >0.50). This value should not be used to represent your population risk. You should combine years or otherwise increase the population denominator in this calculation.
  • DNA = Data Not Available. The required community value and/or confidence interval was not available for this measure.

For more information on statistical stability, visit the New Mexico IBIS Reliability and Validity page at http://ibis.health.state.nm.us/resources/ReliabilityValidity.html.
Stable
New Mexico 22.8
U.S. 12.7

Note

Death rates were age-adjusted to the 2000 U.S. standard population. Prior to 1999, drug-induced death was defined by ICD-9 codes: 292, 304, 305.2-305.9, E850-E858, E950.0-E950.5, E962.0, E980.0-E980.5. For 1999 and beyond, drug-induced death was defined by ICD-10 codes: D52.1, D59.0, D59.2, D61.1, D64.2, E06.4, E16.0, E23.1, E24.2, E27.3, E66.1, F11-16 (.0-.5, .7-.9), F17 (.0, .3-.5, .7-.9), F18-F19 (.0-.5, .7-.9), G21.1, G24.0, G 25.1, G25.4, G25.6, G44.4, G62.0, G72.0, I95.2, J70.2-J70.4, L10.5, L27.0-L27.1, M10.2, M32.0, M80.4, M81.4, M83.5, M87.1, R78.1-R78.5, X40-X44, X60-X64, X85, Y10-14.  Rates for the following counties are unreliable due to a small number of deaths during the three years: Catron, De Baca, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Mora and Union. There were no deaths in Harding County. The 2006 drug-induced death rate is shown for the U.S.

Data Sources

Population Source: Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) Population Estimates, University of New Mexico. http://www.unm.edu/~bber/.   New Mexico Death Data: Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS), New Mexico Department of Health.  

Measure Description for Drug-Induced Deaths

Definition: Drug-induced death is defined as the number of deaths caused by drugs per 100,000 population. Drug-induced deaths are those in which drugs are the primary cause, whether unintentional or intentional.
Numerator: The total number of drug-induced deaths per year.
Denominator: The mid-year estimated population for annual rates.
Click on this link to jump to the complete indicator profile report for Drug-Induced Deaths (exits this community report).
Date Indicator Content Last Updated: 12/22/2010
Drug Use Epidemiology, Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico Department of Health, 1190 St. Francis Dr., Room N1105, P.O. Box 26110, Santa Fe, NM, 87502. Contact Nina Shah, Drug Use Epidemiologist, by telephone at (505) 476-3607 or email to Nina.Shah@state.nm.us.
The information provided above is from the New Mexico Department of Health's NM-IBIS web site (http://ibis.health.state.nm.us). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: "Retrieved Fri, 24 May 2013 16:16:01 from New Mexico Department of Health, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.state.nm.us".

Content updated: Thu, 7 Jun 2012 13:25:00 MDT