Although the rate of drug overdose deaths was significantly lower in 2018 than in 2017 (20.7 and 21.7 per 100,000, respectively), the rate in 2019 (21.6) was higher than the 2018 rate and similar to the 2017 rate. From 2018 through 2019, rates for males increased (from 27.9 to 29.6), while rates for females showed no significant change (13.6 in 2018 and 13.7 in 2019). From 1999 through 2019, rates increased for all groups aged 15 and over, although the patterns of increase varied by age group, with different rates of change over time. In 2019, the rate was highest for adults aged 35–44 at 40.5 per 100,000.

The rate of drug overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (drugs such as fentanyl, fentanyl analogs, and tramadol) continued to increase; however, the average rate of increase has slowed in the most recent years, from an average annual increase of 75% per year from 2013 through 2017 to 9% per year from 2017 through 2019. The rates of drug overdose deaths involving heroin, natural and semisynthetic opioids, and methadone were lower in 2019 than in 2018 (from 4.7 in 2018 to 4.4 in 2019 for heroin, from 3.8 in 2018 to 3.6 in 2019 for natural and semisynthetic opioids, and from 0.9 in 2018 to 0.8 in 2019 for methadone). In contrast, the rates of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine and psychostimulants with abuse potential (drugs such as methamphetamine) were higher in 2019 than in 2018 (from 4.5 in 2018 to 4.9 in 2019 for cocaine, and from 3.9 in 2018 to 5.0 in 2019 for psychostimulants with abuse potential).