Drug overdose deaths more than tripled among people age 65 and older during the past two decades while deaths from alcohol misuse increased more than 18% from 2019 to 2020, according to data by the National Center for Health Statistics.

More than 800,000 seniors suffered from drug addiction and 2.7 million suffered from alcohol addiction in 2020, according to separate data from the Health and Human Services Department.

In total, more than 5,000 seniors died of drug overdoses in 2020 and more than 11,600 succumbed to alcohol, according to the NCHS data. Though drug overdose death rates are lower for seniors than other age groups, they have increased substantially from 2.4 per 100,000 in 2000 to 8.8 per 100,000 in 2020.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/30/drug-overdose-deaths-among-seniors-have-more-than-tripled-in-2-decades.html

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-11-30/fatal-drug-overdoses-among-u-s-seniors-have-tripled-since-2000