Development of Syndrome Definitions for Acute Unintentional Drug and Heroin Overdose

Nationally, deaths due to opioid overdose have continually increased for the past 15 years . Deaths specifically related to heroin increased more than four-fold between 2002 and 2014. Hospital inpatient discharge data provide information on non-fatal overdoses, but include a significant lag in reporting time. Syndromic ED visit data provide near real-time identification of public health issues and can be leveraged to inform public health actions on the emerging threat of drug overdose.

Objective

To develop and evaluate syndrome definitions for the identification of acute unintentional drug overdose events including opioid, heroin, and unspecified substances among emergency department (ED) visits in Virginia.