Men are more likely to die of drug overdoses than women, according to new data from the National Institutes of Health.
Men experience overdose death at a two to three times greater rate than women across all age brackets, states, and types of drugs, according to a study published on Thursday and conducted by scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai in New York and the National Institute on Drug Abuse from the NIH.
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“These data emphasize the importance of looking at the differences between men and women in a multi-layered way,” the lead author of the study, Eduardo Butelman, told the NIH.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in May updated statistics showing over 105,000 overdose deaths were reported in 2022. Overdose deaths across all demographic categories have increased fivefold since 2000, and the rate of overdoses has spiked since 2019.
The Mt. Sinai and NIDA study examined four main categories of drugs, including synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, as well as heroin, psychostimulants, and cocaine.
Synthetic opioids were the cause of the most overdoses for both men and women, accounting for 29.0 and 11.1 deaths per 100,000, respectively. Heroin was responsible for the least amount of overdoses for both sexes.
Although men involved in the study misused drugs at higher rates than women, “the magnitude of difference recorded for overdose mortality between men and women was substantially greater than the difference of reported drug misuse.” This suggests that other biological, behavioral, or sociological factors contribute to the disparate results between women and men.
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“Males, compared to females, have been shown to have a greater propensity for other risky behaviors, with associated morbidity and mortality,” the authors said. Data from other analyses also find that men have generally higher rates of drug use for all categories of illicit substances, including illegal drugs and misuse of prescriptions.
“Though men and women are being exposed to the modern, fentanyl-contaminated drug supply,” explained NIDIA director and co-author Nora Volkow, “something is leading men to die at significantly higher rates. It may be that men use drugs more frequently or in greater doses, which could increase their risk of death, or there may be protective factors among women that reduce their risk of death compared to men.”
