POISONING MORTALITY 1985-1995

POISONING WAS REPORTED as the underlying cause of death for 18,549 peo ple in the United States in 1995 and was ranked as the third leading c ause of injury mortality, following deaths from motor vehicle traffic injuries and firearm injuries. Poisoning was the leading cause of inju ry death for people ages 35 to 44 years. Poisoning death rates were hi gher in 1995 than in any previous year since at least 1979. From 1990 to 1995, the age-adjusted rate of death from poisoning increased 25%; all of the increase was associated with drugs. About three-fourths of poisoning deaths (77%) in 1995 were caused by drugs. The age-adjusted rate of drug-related poisoning deaths for males (7.2 per 100,000) in 1 995 was more than twice that for females (3.0 per 100,000). From 1985 to 1995, poisoning death rates for males ages 35-54 years nearly doubl ed to 20.4 per 100,000, and the drug-related poisoning death rate for males ages 35-54 years nearly tripled, reaching 16.1 per 100,000. From 1990 to 1995, death rates associated with opiates and cocaine more th an doubled among males ages 35-54 years. The numbers of opiate and coc aine poisoning deaths for 1995 more than doubled when all multiple cau se of death codes were examined instead of only the underlying cause o f death codes.