Experience of Personal Loss Due to Drug Overdose Among US Adults

Abstract

Importance: Since 1999, over 1 million people have died of a drug overdose in the US. However, little is known about the bereaved, meaning their family, friends, and acquaintances, and their views on the importance of addiction as a policy priority.

Objectives: To quantify the scope of the drug overdose crisis in terms of personal overdose loss (ie, knowing someone who died of a drug overdose) and to assess the policy implications of this loss.

Design, setting, and participants: This cross-sectional study used data from a nationally representative survey of US adults (age ≥18 years), the fourth wave of the COVID-19 and Life Stressors Impact on Mental Health and Well-Being (CLIMB) study, which was conducted from March to April 2023.

Main outcomes and measures: Respondents reported whether they knew someone who died of a drug overdose and the nature of their relationship with the decedent(s). They also reported their political party affiliation and rated the importance of addiction as a policy issue. Logistic regression models estimated the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and political party affiliation and the probability of experiencing a personal overdose loss and between the experience of overdose loss and the perceived salience of addiction as a policy issue. Survey weights adjusted for sampling design and nonresponse.

Results: Of the 7802 panelists invited to participate, 2479 completed the survey (31.8% response rate); 153 were excluded because they did not know whether they knew someone who died of a drug overdose, resulting in a final analytic sample of 2326 (51.4% female; mean [SD] age, 48.12 [0.48] years). Of these respondents, 32.0% (95% CI, 28.8%-34.3%) reported any personal overdose loss, translating to 82.7 million US adults. A total of 18.9% (95% CI, 17.1%-20.8%) of all respondents, translating to 48.9 million US adults, reported having a family member or close friend die of drug overdose. Personal overdose loss was more prevalent among groups with lower income (<$30 000: 39.9%; ≥$100 000: 26.0%). The experience of overdose loss did not differ across political party groups (Democrat: 29.0%; Republican: 33.0%; independent or none: 34.2%). Experiencing overdose loss was associated with a greater odds of viewing addiction as an extremely or very important policy issue (adjusted odds ratio, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.09-1.72) after adjustment for sociodemographic and geographic characteristics and political party affiliation.

Conclusions and relevance: This cross-sectional study found that 32% of US adults reported knowing someone who died of a drug overdose and that personal overdose loss was associated with greater odds of endorsing addiction as an important policy issue. The findings suggest that mobilization of this group may be an avenue to facilitate greater policy change.

Figure 1.. Experience of Personal Overdose Loss Among US Adults, 2023

Percentages were generated from responses among a nationally representative sample of US adults surveyed in 2023 and incorporate survey weights to adjust for nonresponse (n = 2326). Error bars represent 95% CIs.

Figure 2.. Adjusted Estimated Probability of Experiencing Personal Overdose Loss by Political Party Affiliation Group

Model was adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. The sample included 2287 individuals. Error bars represent 95% CIs.

Figure 3.. Estimated Probability of Viewing Addiction as an Extremely or Very Important Policy Priority by Personal Overdose Loss Experience and Political Party Affiliation

Model was adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. The sample included 817 Democrats, 562 Republicans, and 888 individuals with an independent or no affiliation. Error bars represent 95% CIs. ^aSignificant difference in viewing addiction as a very or extremely important policy priority among those who have or have not experienced personal overdose loss after adjusting for covariates.