Analyzing the prevalence of Hepatitis C among individuals who died of drug overdose in New York State between 2008-2011

Drug overdose is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States.   Hepatitis C (HCV) is the most common bloodborne infection in the United States with approximately 2.2 million people infected whose seroconversion can be attributed to injection drug use.  It is important to determine the burden of HCV among individuals with a drug overdose death in an attempt to reduce the morbidity associated with drug use and HCV infection.   Individuals identified as HCV positive in NYS through required laboratory reporting were matched to the multiple cause of death file to determine primary and contributing causes of death for those individuals determined to be deceased.  HCV positive persons with a primary cause of death specific to overdose were compared to all NYS residents with a primary cause of death of overdose.  From 2008 to 2011, 10.8% of persons in NYS who died from an overdose were HCV positive. Of those who died of an overdose related to heroin, 6.5% also had HCV.  Within this group, there was no significant difference by gender, with 6.3% of males and 7.0% of females who had HCV.  However, the distribution of age at death showed variation; 44.6% of overdose deaths from heroin among individuals 55 and older also had HCV. This study shows a strong overlap between overdose deaths and HCV with roughly 11% of overdose deaths occurring among persons with HCV. No apparent trend over time was found suggesting any fluctuations in overdose deaths by year are paralleled for persons with HCV. These finding support the need to further educate individuals who are diagnosed with HCV who might be at risk of overdose.