The Cuyahoga County medical examiner classified all 1,150 unintentional cocaine-related overdose deaths from 2014 to 2024 by whether fentanyl was also detected. Fentanyl was present in 74.6% of them. Decedents with fentanyl were younger White non-Hispanic men, whereas deaths without fentanyl were more common in Black men aged over 45.
Why it is interesting: Two distinct populations sit inside one cause-of-death label, separable only where examiner records list every substance.
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