Suspected Drug Overdose Deaths in Ottawa

<p><strong>Date Created: </strong>November 2023<br /><strong>Update Frequency: </strong>Weekly<br /><strong>Last Reviewed: </strong>November 2023<br /><strong>Accuracy, Completeness, and Known Issues:</strong></p><ul><li>Data are from the "Weekly Update on Suspect Drug-Related Deaths in Ontario, by PHU Region" published weekly by the OCCO. Data are preliminary and subject to change.</li><li>Suspect-drug related deaths include deaths where the preliminary investigation by the investigating coroner indicated: drugs were found at the scene, substance use equipment found at the scene, history of drug abuse, history of naloxone use, physical sign of drug use, positional asphyxia, unresponsive with snoring prior to death, or preliminary findings from autopsy indicate a suspected drug intoxication.&nbsp;</li><li>Suspect-drug related deaths exclude deaths associated with trauma and medical assistance in dying cases.</li><li>Investigations of suspect-drug related deaths may take several months, with identification of a number of death types, including: (1) opioid; (2) non-opioid acute drug toxicity, or (3) natural deaths (e.g., cardiac events), with different manners of death (natural, suicide, accident).</li><li>When deaths initially thought to be drug related are determined to be natural deaths, this death is not removed from the preliminary suspected drug related death count to maintain comparable baseline data for the most recent months.</li><li><p>Geographic regions are assigned based primarily on location of incident, however due to delays in data entry, may not yet be assigned for some recent deaths.</p><p>&nbsp;</p></li></ul><p><strong>Data Steward: </strong>OPH Epidemiology Team<br /><strong>Data Steward Email: </strong><a href='mailto:[e-mail]' rel='nofollow ugc'>[e-mail]</a><br /><strong>Department or Agency: </strong>Ottawa Public Health<br /><strong>Branch/Unit: </strong>Epidemiology and Evidence<br />&nbsp;</p>