DAYTONA BEACH - The Florida Department of Health in Volusia County has issued a special report that takes a closer look at the presence of opioids in cases of hospitalizations, emergency department visits and deaths in Volusia County.

“The U.S. Surgeon General reports someone dies from an opioid overdose every 24 minutes in this country,” said Ron Rondeau, interim director of the Florida Department of Health in Volusia County. “Fortunately for Volusia County, opioid-related hospitalizations have decreased 23.3 percent from 2010 to 2014. The 2014 Volusia County rate for opioid-related hospitalizations is 23.1percent lower than the Florida rate.”

Volusia County deaths with opioids as a contributing factor tell a different story. Opioid-related deaths have decreased 51.1 percent from 2010 to 2014 but were consistently higher than the Florida rates during the same period.

Highlights in the opioid special report include:

• Whites in Volusia County accounted for over 85 percent of all opioid-related hospitalizations and 56 percent of opioid-related hospitalizations were females

• Five of the eight ZIP codes in the Southeast quadrant  had the highest age-adjusted rates of opioid-related emergency department visits in the quadrant and county in 2014

• The Southeast quadrant (25.5) had the highest age-adjusted rate of opioid-related deaths in Volusia County in 2014

• The age-adjusted rate of opioid hospitalizations for Hispanics from 2010 to 2014 increased in all quadrants with the Southeast quadrant having the largest percentage increase (62.2 percent),

• Whites in all quadrants had the highest age-adjusted rate of opioid-related hospitalizations of all races between 2010 to 2014

Data Sources: Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) Hospital and Emergency Department datasets, 2010-2014; Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, 2010-2014.

For more information, please visit our website www.volusiahealth.com.